The Black Knights
by Prince of Madness 54
Summary: With the destruction of the Collector base Commander John Shepard is desperate to make the galaxy see the truth about the Reapers. Shunned by the Council Shepard must raise an army to protect the galaxy from its biggest threats The Reapers and themselves
1. Collector Base

**For this story I will be using my created character for Shepard's looks, behavior, and combat skill.**

**Name: John, Shepard**

**Class: Soldier**

**Advanced Training Power: Slam**

**Attitude: Well you'll see**

**Physical description: Default male**

**Obviously because this is a Shepard/Tali fic all of the romance options with Tali have happened. The fic will pick up during the suicide mission during the part with the biotic barrier.**

**Also all of the character's abilities are based on what they can do in the cut scenes. So Thane will have the whole super agility thing and Garrus can shoot the wings off a fly etc. **

**Well Enjoy**

"Shepard, I can't hold the barrier for much longer." Samara moaned. The strain of maintaining the barrier for so long was evident in the way she stumbled down the corridor.

"Just a little farther Samara the door is only twenty meters away." He said "Thane on your left!"

Thane whirled, his M-29 Incisor coming to bare. In less than a second his shot was lined up and three bullets flew from the muzzle. All three rounds struck a Collector drone between its middle eyes. A spray of yellow blood splattered from the wound as the Collector fell.

"Shepard, you need to hurry we won't be able to hold on much longer." Tali's frantic voice called out over the com channel.

"Mordin do you have anything that could give Samara a stamina boost?"

"Sorry Shepard nothing on me that would help in this matter." Mordin babbled as he lit a Collector up like a torch.

"Well then this is the only option." He hefted Samara onto his back.

Though surprised by the sudden action Samara was able to keep her barrier active. Shepard began to run towards the door hoping to make it before any of his crew was too seriously injured. Thane and Mordin followed closely firing the occasional shot or two at Collectors who were getting too close.

The team was stopped dead in their tracks as four Collectors landed in front of the door particle beams poised to attack. With one final grunt of effort Samara rapidly expanded the barrier crushing the Collector's against the door. She collapsed onto Shepard's back a moment later.

"Mordin get that door open now! Thane cover our backs!" Shepard barked. The Salarian and Drell nodded and rushed to perform their tasks. Shepard could hear Thane's M-29 and Mordin muttering to himself as he tried to break the encryption on the door lock. Shepard laid Samara next to Mordin before drawing his M-96 Mattock and began to help Thane pick off targets.

"It is done." Mordin said about a minute later the door sliding open. Thane and Mordin sprinted threw the door and took cover on either side of the entryway before giving Shepard covering fire.

Shepard dragged Samara quickly the five feet into the door before shouting. "Shut it!"

"Mordin let the rest of the team in. Thane look after Samara." He said pulling his Geth Plasma Shotgun off his belt. It unfurled its three barrels looking like a hydra of old Greek mythology. He nodded and Mordin opened the door.

On the other side stood his team, they stood in a pile of collector bodies, A little battered but all alive. "Everyone inside NOW!" Shepard shouted.

Garrus and Legion bolted threw the door and began to lay down covering fire. Chunks of Collectors went flying as Legion's M-98 anti-material rifle tore through their ranks. Tali, Miranda, and Jacob followed. Jack came in last throwing large spheres of biotic energy in her wake. She dove into the room and the doors were swiftly shut.

"John!" Tali shouted wrapping her arms around his neck. He was glad his helmet obscured his whole face for he grimaced in pain as his Kestral armor rubbed against a burn from one of the collector's particle beams. Despite the pain he still hugged her back.

"Commander, Grunt has just arrived with the surviving crew. Would you like me to send him back?" EDI said over the radio.

"No, have him stay to incase another boarding party shows up. Though I think we have most of their attention." Shepard replied.

"Legion I want you to encrypt, cross wires, burn out fuses whatever you need to do to keep the Collectors from coming through the doors. When you're done you and Garrus should try and find some cover near the rear of the room and provide sniper fire. Tali I want you to stick with them in case a Collector gets too close too fast."

"Shepard I don't need to be protected I can fight." Tali interrupted.

"Tali we don't have time to argue. I'm not putting you there for your protection; I'm doing it for theirs" He says motioning to the two snipers. "If they don't notice a Collector they will need someone who can take care of it quickly." Shepard said.

Tali remained silent for a moment before nodding.

"Jacob and Jack take point near the doors" He continued. "Samara and Miranda I want you to guard the two on point, keep them alive. Target any Collector that looks like they are lining up a shot at them. I will say to all of you; there are no rivals here only friends, people who will risk their lives to keep you alive."

"If we do this right we will all come back alive from this." Shepard finished.

Everyone nodded and began to check over their weapons one last time.

"John make sure you come back." Tali said as he stepped onto the platform.

"I will Tali just make sure you keep yourself safe." Shepard responded, the platform moving into the open air.

After it was a few hundred meters out, the platform began to rise rapidly. Floor after floor whipped by, dozens of Collectors turned to look at them but none were fast enough to see who the three occupants were. A Salarian, a Drell, and a Human, armed to the teeth ready for anything.

Ten minutes after the platform began its assent it came to a stop. An eerie roar came from the wall opposite Shepard and his team; several platforms began to move towards them.

Thane was quickly able to clear the first one. His M-29 fired out 15 rounds in rapid succession, fire flashing from the muzzle. Five Collectors fell dead three bullets embedded in their oversized skulls. The remaining Collectors all fired their particle beams at the three.

Shepard dove for cover, narrowly avoiding two particle beams, but agitating his wounds from earlier. Pain lanced up his side, but he shrugged it off and focused his small amount of biotic talent. He lifted a Collector off its feet and sent it crashing into the ground with sufficient force to break it's carapace with a sickening crack. As it tried to stand the Collector burst into flames, the newly exposed flesh burned till only ash remained.

The remaining Collectors found cover not wishing to meet the same fate as the others. As the platforms linked one of the Collectors began to admit a piercing yellow light from its eyes. It stood no longer afraid of the bullets hitting its kinetic barrier. A ball of black-red energy shot from its palm launching Mordin back shattering his kinetic barrier.

The Collectors took advantage of this gap in Shepard's defense and swarmed. Shepard drew his Geth shotgun pumping out the first volley the second the three barrels snapped into place. All three plasma projectiles hit a Collector drone in the chest knocking it off its feet dead. Firing from the hip he put three rounds from his Mattock rifle into another Collector, its biotic barrier fading. Pissed the Collector unloaded its own rifle at John. Shepard launched a concussive shell into its chest sending it over the waist high wall of the mobile platforms.

Mordin took this chance get up and rejoin the battle. Stunning a Collector with his neural shock ability, as Thane put three bullets in its head. As the Collector fell Harbinger sent another biotic blast at them. Mordin ducked behind one of the walls while Thane took another approach. Using Modin's bent form as a springboard he vaulted over both the biotic attack and Harbinger. Landing gracefully he turned and put five bullets from his M-5 into the base of Harbinger's neck. He fired the last round into a Collector that was on top of Shepard.

The momentary distraction allowed them John to pull a combat knife out of its wrist sheath and stab the Collector in the neck. Yellowish blood flowed from the wound coating his helmet. The Collector screamed in outrage trying to pull the knife from the wound. Shepard focused his biotic power and flung the Collector off of him. He rolled out of the way as the Collector came crashing down again, hitting the ground dead.

"Everyone alright?" He asked, wiping the blood from his death mask.

"Affirmative, thanks to Mr. Krios." Mordin said in his usual spasmodic way. Thane nodded before offering a prayer to the fallen. Soon the three were on their way again. It only took four minutes to reach their goal, what they found horrified them.

Suspended by four tubes was the upper torso of a giant human reaper. The internal workings were completely exposed and one hand was missing but it was still a horrifying sight. Inside the tubes was the grayish liquid that the captive human's had been broken down into.

After getting over his initial shock Shepard pulled his M-79 Revenant off his back and put his Mattock back where his sniper usually was. "Thane open fire on the left two I've got the right two. Mordin give us cover if more Collectors show up." He ordered.

As soon as the order left him mouth Thane already had three rounds from his M-29 aimed and loosed. One of the tube shattered as Thane loosed another three rounds having a similar effect on the tube bellow it. Shepard for his part activated his adrenaline implants and let the feeling wash over him. Aiming the Revenant he loosed a spray of ten bullets on each tube. As the final support broke the Human Reaper went plummeting into the abyss.

Shepard sighed and visibly relaxed. Removing his helmet he wiped sweat from his brow. "Mordin get that core ready to blow we need to get out of here soon no telling how many Collectors are in this place."

"Right away; should only take minute." The Salarian replied

"Tali how are you holding up?" Shepard asked over the com.

"If you're asking if we are all still alive yes but we are in a bit of trouble since you left they haven't stopped coming at us. We are running low on thermal clips. Garrus get down!" the sound of a shotgun firing could be heard.

"Hurry and get back to the Normandy, we'll meet you their soon."

"Make sure you do. Alright everyone fall back to the Normandy Shepard's…" The sentence was cut off as Tali turned it off.

"Joker is the Normandy ready yet?"

"Just about, but sir there is a message from the Illusive man inbound do you want me to patch it threw to you?"

"Yes send it to my omni-tool."

The Illusive man's face appeared "Shepard you've done excellent work."

"It's not over yet this base is still in one piece; I need to fix that." Shepard said

"I have a better idea, use a timed radiation pulse to kill the Collectors and then we'll have Cerberus teams salvage the technology."

"I can't risk it; this place has to be destroyed."

"Shepard be reasonable this technology could save humanity from the…" Shepard killed the signal not wanting to hear anymore.

"Core almost ready should only take another moment, whats that?" Mordin asked.

Straining his ears Shepard could hear it too, a mechanical whirring followed by a louder thud. "Thane get a visual on what's making the noise." Shepard asked.

Thane searched the room for the source but found none till he looked over the side of the platform. Crawling up the wall of the base was the incomplete Human Reaper. Thinking quick Shepard pulled out the M-920 Cain and began to charge it. The Human Reaper turned its head and began to fire its own weapon.

One of the adjoining platforms was knocked away. The vibrations knocked Shepard over sending the first shot from the Cain several dozen meters off target. Using its one good arm the Human Reaper was able to finish the climb onto the platform. It fired again sending Mordin sprawling a severe burn on his right arm.

"Thane try to keep it busy I need this next shot to hit!" Shepard called.

"I will try." Drawing his M-9 Tempest Thane began to engage the reaper. He jumped and rolled around one of the platforms, occasionally sending a volley of bullets the reaper's way to keep its attention.

Shepard reloaded the Cain and prepared to shoot. The usually quick charge time of ten seconds seemed like a life time now. When the indicator finally reached 100% Shepard allowed the adrenaline to once again flow threw his veins. The feeling was slightly relaxing. He lined up the shot and pulled the trigger. The high explosive slug barreled into the human reaper, the explosion threw it from the platform tearing it to pieces.

Running to the core Shepard entered the last few commands in before placing back. "Joker get over here ASAP the base is set to blow we need immediate evac."

"Already on our way." He responded.

"Shepard, Mordin is hurt." Thane called out as he crouched over the prone Salarian.

"I'll be fine just some thermal burns an easy fix." He mumbled his usually bubbly tone missing.

"Commander EDI just scanned the room you're in and there is a huge amount of thermal signatures moving towards you, prepare for a fight." Joker said over the com.

Shepard grabbed his helmet from its spot on the floor, dropped during the commotion with the Human Reaper. Replacing it atop his head, he pulled his M-79 out and slammed a new thermal clip in. Seconds later they were upon them.

Hundreds of Collectors flew like a swarm of locusts towards their position. Shepard and Mordin opened up on them, and even Thane just fired blindly into the swarm hoping to cause as much collateral damage as possible. Right before the swarm was able to land; a volley of torpedo's soared over the team's head. Impacting with the front lines of the swarm the torpedo's released the same cryogenic material as Shepard's cryo ammo. Dozens of Collectors fell frozen solid; another hundred fell from the shock wave of the impact.

The SR2 Normandy flew up beside the platform hatch open. Thane was the first to react he ran and dove into the open hatch. Mordin followed next slightly slower than the Drell, followed in turn by Shepard. A crewman closed the hatch. "Joker their in." He after

Shepard ran to the cockpit as the Normandy raced out of the base. A large timer counted down in the corner of Joker's instruments. 17,16,15…..3,2,1. The explosion had the force to knock Shepard off his feet. Joker pulled up one of the rear camera views and sighed in relief.

The Collector base was no more.

**During the jump back to the Omega nebula**

Shepard and his team sat around the conference table discussing their next move.

"We should go to the Council try and get them to make fleet construction a priority." Garrus suggested.

"They'll never listen to us we should got back to Cerberus and see what resources the Illusive man can provide us with." Miranda countered.

"I say we just cut our ties with Cerberus all together we don't need them." Jack shouted at Miranda.

"Of course we do. A frigate and a strike team of 11 can't win a war with the Reapers." Miranda shouted back.

"Oh really, we seem to be doing just fine now. An entire base of the Collector freaks and no more than a few scratches on us." Jack retorted.

"Both of you shut up." Shepard said. "You're acting like kids. You need to get over your differences. After this mission I'm not too keen to be working with the Illusive man again, but if the council won't listen to us he will be a powerful ally."

Both women were silent. So Shepard continued. "First we should head to the Citadel regardless of what we are going to do because the Normandy need's repairs. After that we'll figure out what to do."

Nods went up around the table and people began to file out.

"Legion, Tali one moment please." Shepard said suddenly.

"What is it Shepard commander?" Legion inquired.

"I want the two of you to figure out a way to hack the Citadels information network. If I can't get the council to see reason then I'll have to rally the people to me to make them help us. The key part of this is to make sure the Council doesn't shut us down in the middle of the broadcast. Do you think you are up to this?"

"John do you really doubt my skill that much you think I couldn't do it, especially with a Geth to help me?" Tali said jokingly

"Of course not, I've seen both of your skills before. What I haven't seen is the level of cybernetic security the Citadel computer network has." Shepard said.

"We'll be able to handle it no problem. The Citadel has never seen a mechanical genius like Tali'Zorah vas Normandy." Tali said. Her voice was filled with pride when she said vas Normandy. It was no longer a symbol of her exile but a symbol of her deeds.

The ship lurched as it decelerated. "Commander you may want to come look at this." Joker called over the com system. "There might be a problem."

When Shepard arrived to the bridge he saw on the radar a cruiser was waiting for them.

"Commander we are being hailed by the cruiser should I patch it through?" EDI asked in her mechanical voice.

Shepard nodded. "This is Alliance cruiser Vienna; we have orders to escort the Cerberus vessel Normandy to dry-dock at the citadel, will you complies?"

"Who gave you these orders Captain?" Shepard asked cautiously

"Admiral Anderson sir."

"How did he know we were out here, I don't remember sending him a message that we were even going through the Omega 4 relay yet." Shepard responded

"An Alliance frigate near Omega picked up the activity at the relay. When the news reached the Admiral he dispatched my ship to escort you back to the citadel."

Hitting the mute button on the control panel Shepard began to speak. "EDI run a search through the Alliance database see if the ship is registered." After a moment of silence EDI spoke up.

"The Vienna is registered as an active ship in the Alliance database Commander."

"Good then Joker tell the Vienna we will comply I am going to get some sleep." Shepard said yawning.

**Citadel Council Chamber two days later**

"I refuse to believe this ridiculous nonsense, it is all a ploy by Cerberus to draw attention away from their actions. I beg my fellow councilman not to be swayed by this man." Councilor Udina shouted.

Shepard had a feeling things were going to go this way. The minute Shepard had finished his report about the Collector base, Udina tried to cover it up.

"Councilors, my entire crew can vouch for the authenticity of my report." Shepard almost shouted frustrated the council refused to believe him, again.

"The Human may have point Udina; Collectors have been seen in Galaxy before. Many times asking for unusual things mainly humans with peculiar genetics. It could be very possible they used the missing Colonies to create this, Human Reaper." The Salarian councilor stated.

This cheered Shepard up slightly, but with the new Asari and Turian councilors still not chosen, the only a unanimous vote could get anything done in the Council. Udina had a lot of power at the moment and he was enjoying rubbing it in Shepard's face.

"The Collector base has been destroyed, for this I thank the commander and his team, but the Reapers are just a rumor started by this man." Udina shouted. "Do I have to remind you that Sovereign was a Geth warship, and this man here has the gall to bring a ship with a Geth as one of its crew to this station? I don't care how many times you insist that the Geth is different, Geth are Geth, no two ways around it Commander. I want you off this station until that Geth is disposed of from your ship." Councilor Udina said finishing his rant. He stood and left the room essentially ending the meeting.

"I apologies for his rudeness Commander, Udina is a; how do you humans say it? Hard ass I believe is the phrase." The Salarian Council stated.

"Don't worry about it; I'm used to it from my days as a specter." Shepard stated pleasantly but on the inside he was fuming. Once again he was ignored and once again he was going to have to pull their asses out of the fire.

Shepard sighed; this was going to be a pain in the ass. Shepard found Tali waiting outside the door to the audience chamber. "What did they say?" She asked as he walked over to her.

"They don't believe me again." Shepard replied with a sigh.

"How can they not believe you, we brought so much evidence." Tali asked.

"Udina acknowledges that we destroyed a Collector base but he doesn't want to believe anything about the Reapers involvement. He stated that it was all a ploy by Cerberus to draw attention away from their illegal actions.

"Will that bosh'tet never listen to reason?" Tali cursed.

"In time he might but I fear only an impending disaster will make him take us seriously." Shepard said with remorse.

"What are we going to do in the mean time wait around for the council to come to their senses?" Tali asked frustration obvious in her voice.

"No, of course not. We build our own forces in the mean time. Collect people from all over the galaxy. Collect and build warships, train an army. Make sure the Galaxy has a first line of defense ready for when the Reapers do strike. Give the Citadel time to gather their own army."

"So where should we start?" Tali asked as she called for a taxi to take them back to the Normandy.

"I have an idea but I'm not sure Garrus is going to be happy about it."

**Well this is my first attempt at a Mass Effect fanfic, I never actually played the original Mass Effect so I am not going to mention much about events that happened during it unless absolutely necessary.**

**If you see anything wrong please tell me I will listen and fix things, but you have to bring it to my attention first.**

**On a final note, reviews of all kinds are appreciated**

**Prince of Madness 54**


	2. Acquisitions and Negotiations

**AN: Ok well let me take a minute to answer a question someone had **

**BigDame77: I put Udina in charge so that the council would be at odds with Shepard and he would be forced to take matters into his own hands.**

**Anyway this chapter is going to take place 6 months after my last chapter for reason's I will explain in the closing AN.**

**Well Enjoy Chapter 2**

**Citadel Factory District**

**Elkoss Combine factory #53**

**6 Months Later**

"Tonn Oraka?" Someone asked.

Tonn turned from his half assembled M-8 to find a quarian, and a drell standing behind him.

"Um can I help you two?" Tonn asked his mandibles clacking.

"We have a job offer for you." The quarian said.

"Well then you're wasting your time as you can see I have a job." Tonn said turning back to his work.

He heard a sigh before he heard someone speak up "We know who you are Sidonis" The voice was unfamiliar, likely the Drell, Sidonis thought. Not reacting to what they said he kept his head down and kept working.

"I don't know who you have me confused with but my name is Tonn Oraka, you said so yourselves." The turian said calmly.

"We've already talked with Harkin he told us everything, you don't have to hide it anymore." The Drell said his voice a throaty whisper.

Sidonis turned arms wide open. "Fine get it over with kill me… I deserve it anyway." Sidonis said defeat heavy on his face and the way he spoke.

"You misunderstand Mr. Lantar we are not here to kill you, we are offering you a real job." The quarian said. "One that might help redeem yourself for your past crimes."

"Who are you and what line of work are you involved in?" Sidonis asked cautious of the two.

"We are a freelance…" The quarian began to say but the turian didn't let her finish.

"Get out! I refuse to work with or for any mercenary group."

"We aren't a mercenary group, think of us more as protectors." The quarian said.

"Ok Miss protector, tell me who you are and what the job is and maybe I'll consider it." Sidonis said still wary of these alleged protectors. He had seen merc groups give a similar promise.

"We wish to make use of your special skill set."

"I have no special skills." The turian said quietly.

"Our reports beg to differ, were you not the captain of the Turian cruiser Shastinasio, before it was destroyed during the battle with Sovereign

"Those skills are only useful if you could get me a ship bigger than a fighter." Sidonis said.

"Then the job is yours." The quarian said walking away the drell no more than three steps behind her.

Sidonis's eyes widened at the implications of what this quarian was telling him. Some unknown organization had approached him, figured out who he really was and offered him the job of captaining a ship. Who were these people and where did they get their money?

"Are you coming or not?" The quarian asked him.

"Just tell me who you are first."

"My name is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

**Freedom's Progress 16 hours later**

The MSV Strontium Muleexited FTL and lurched to a halt. After clearing the ship of Blue Sun mercenaries, Shepard had sent it back to Cerberus and was now used as a transport ship.

"Miss Zorah I thought that Freedom's Progress was abandoned after all the colonists disappeared, why are we here." Sidonis asked from the navigator's station.

"That is precisely the point; because it is abandoned Shepard thought it would be the perfect spot to set up a base of operations. Where better to hide a base then someplace no one goes to. The buildings are already built as well. So far our numbers are very low but over the past few days recruits have begun to show up."

"This is the frigate Midnight Star confirm your identity or we will be forced to shoot." A voice called out of the com system. A midnight black frigate appeared in front of the small merchant ship. Its duel thanix cannons in the firing position.

"This is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, clearance code, 6V3S1."

"Code accepted welcome back Miss Zorah, was your mission successful?"

"Yes captain we were able to secure the package."

"Well done, the Commander will be pleased."

Tali fired up the engines bringing the Mule closer into orbit with Freedom's progress. As the MSV Mule crested the horizon into the light side of the planet, the first signs of The Artemis, could be seen.

The ship was unique in design; it looked very much like an oversized frigate but with a few key differences. Instead of the bridge being in the bow of the ship, it was farther up the body, in its place was the muzzle to a cannon. Multiple smaller ships surrounded the bow and seemed to be disassembling said cannon. Instead of the rounded edges seen on ships like the Normandy, the aft of the Artemis was flatter with sharper edges in the welding. Though costing some speed and maneuverability, this provided a better mounting surface for its two duel Thanix cannons. Each cannon was about twice the size of the one mounted on any frigate. They were stacked vertically on each side on the cruiser about the engine "_wings_". To add some extra protection a metal plate was mounted onto the sides of the cannon. Not large enough to interfere with firing but still large enough to add some protection to the more sensitive part of the cannons.

The usual GUARDIAN systems were in place along with multiple different types of torpedo and missile tube. Painted a deep black with the words _The Artemis_ painted on the side in a light blue and at roughly twice the size of the average frigate. It was a sight to behold.

"So Mr. Lantar how do you like you knew ship." Tali asked, laughing slightly at the astonished look on Sidonis's face.

"It looks amazing, I must say I had my doubts that Shepard could deliver what he promised but I'm impressed. Why are they dismantling the main gun though?" He asked confused.

"Recently our Research and Development branch were able to complete a design for a ship based PPC and wanted to test it on the Artemis. We are dismantling the main gun because the PPC will replace it." Tali said proudly, for she had been heading the team that reverse engineered the weapon.

"What is a PPC?" Sidonis asked confused.

"It is an acronym for Particle Projectile Cannon. We reverse engineered it from a Collector weapon. It fires a beam of highly compressed particles with enough energy to shred through any known armor. Sadly we don't know what it will do to a Reaper but it's worth a shot." Tali said

"Where did Shepard get Collector technology?"

"The Collectors had been taking entire human colonies for Reaper experimentation. In the end we stopped them and killed them all." Thane said in his raspy voice. His seemed to look out into space and began to mumble. "Lifeless husks of dead humans, blank eyes staring up at us, the screams of the Collectors." His eyes returned to focus and he shook his head. He returned to his console a moment later.

Tali looked sadly over at the Drell. He led such a sad life, almost 41 now he was slowly dying from Kepral's Syndrome after 28 years of being an assassin. He hardly knew his son who had recently joined up with them, much to Thane's dismay. Though Kolyat had just as much talented as his father, though much less experience, it was still sad that he was forced into a life like this.

Setting the thought aside Tali began the reentry sequence. Slowly dipping the ship began the long decent to the planet's surface. As the ship finished landing procedures two M-44 Hammerheads surrounded the exit ramp of the ship. Like all of the vehicles previously seen the M-44 was painted a deep black but with deep crimson detail work.

"I'm sorry for this Miss Zorah but Commander Shepard asked me to come retrieve the three of you the moment you landed." A young man said from inside the cockpit of the M-44.

"That's alright Lieutenant Philips." Tali said.

In a matter of minutes the M-44 arrived at Shepard's base of operations. After a quick salute from the lieutenant, the three made their way inside. The building obviously hadn't been built to be a base for anyone. The building originally was most likely a communal home of some sort or another based on the number of rooms it had. The room that was now Shepard's command office was the size of maybe a man's personal study at one point but had been retrofitted to serve its new purpose. A 2-D galaxy map had been fitted to the wall, and Shepard's personal console sat on a desk. A communication's terminal was set up on the opposite wall which Shepard was now shouting at.

Shepard was in his normal captain's uniform but it was a rich black in color with the emblem of two light blue angel wings surrounding a pair of crossed black swords near his lapel instead of the Cerberus emblem. He wore an M-9 on his hip but it was not loaded by the looks of it.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told the ambassador you sent last month. I don't represent Earth or the System's Alliance. I can't get them to send your people a formal apology or give up any territory because I don't work with or for them."

No one could make out what the response was but Shepard obviously wasn't happy with it. "Did you not just hear me? The Systems Alliance hates me right about now because I am trying to expose the truth."

"You know," Shepard continued after a moment's pause. "If you were to side with me, when the Systems Alliance is shown how wrong they. It would be a real shot to their ego if they knew that the Batarians had a bigger role in saving the galaxy than they did. Plus you would be seen as hero's and most likely given some of your territory back by the council." Shepard said.

Another muffled response followed by Shepard saying. "Thank you for your co-operation I will be eagerly waiting for you response."

As the panel shut off Shepard sat back down and slammed his head on the table.

"I take it negotiations with the Batarians are going badly?" Thane asked.

"They can't get over what happened during the Skyllian Verge incident and want me to acknowledge for the whole Human race that we were wrong, and that the Batarians were the victims of the conflict. Plus another hundred things only the Alliance can do and I can't. Running this thing is a pain in the ass." Shepard said finally looking up.

"But let's speak of other things. I take it by the fact Sidonis is standing in my office that the mission was a success?" Shepard asked quizzically.

"I have agreed to become the captain of the Artemis." Sidonis said. "Two question though. First of which is what is the name of this organization?"

"I named it The Black Knights. We are a military organization whose goal is to defend the Terminus systems from whatever threat may plague them and build a fleet capable of holding off the Reapers." Shepard said bluntly.

"Couldn't many people see this as a plot to take over the Terminus systems?" Sidonis asked.

"That is why we only offer help to those who need it. We do not interfere in matters involving government, or planetary power. We only deal with mercenaries, and pirates, when planets ask us to or we find something to unspeakable to ignore."

"I can live with that. It is similar to what Garrus and I were doing on Omega. Now my other question, what is the relative strength of this organization?" Sidonis inquired.

"We have roughly 100 assorted cruisers and frigates. One fully stocked Carrier and two dreadnoughts…"

"Where in the hell did the Illusive man get the money to build a dreadnought let alone two?" Sidonis asked in shock.

"Hell if I should know he never tells me anything." Shepard said with a shrug. For a moment Sidonis could tell Shepard looked troubled but he didn't say anything about it.

"Sorry for the interruption carry on." Sidonis said politely.

Shepard nodded before speaking again, "Our ground forces are small compared to the high end mercenary organizations but our numbers grow day by day. To ensure the success of our missions we train our soldiers thoroughly before deploying them to the field, so right now the vast majority of our force is still in basic training. But enough about this.

Thane, take Mr. Lantar up to the Artemis he probably would like some time to become acquainted with his ship and crew."

Thane nodded and led Sidonis out of the room. As the door shut Shepard dropped his leader person and let 6 months of stress show in his features. He lay back in his chair looking extremely tired and weary.

"Ugh I knew running this operation would be tough but this is ridiculous, I need some help." Shepard sighed as Tali walked over to his side.

"John you need to take a break once and awhile. All this work will kill you, then who will be left to save the galaxy, and help me raise Rael?" Tali said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

Shepard smiled reminded of the life that would soon be brought into this world. About a month ago the two had learned of Tali's pregnancy, she was showing slightly but if you didn't know her well no one would notice it. There were few instances of quarians mating with other species and producing a child but the stories were old and rare so no significant data could be gathered on it. Tali had insisted it was a boy and was planning on naming him after her late father.

"Trust me Tali I don't plan on going anywhere." Shepard said standing to lay his head on Tali's faceplate.

The couple stood like this for awhile before a voice blared over the intercom. "Commander, 6 Geth Destroyers just exited FTL should we scatter an intercept fleet?"

Tali reacted quickly slamming her fist down on the respond button. "Captain send orders to the _Night Angel_'s fleet__tell them to make short work out of the Geth, they can't learn of this base!" She shouted.

Shepard quickly spoke up, "Hold those order's commander do not touch the Geth ships do you hear me. Disengage. Send the Geth landing coordinates to land on the south side of the compound. These Geth are friendly and are to be treated as such." Shepard spoke franticly trying to stop the impending attack on potential allies.

"John what are you doing?" Tali said the minute the com died. "These are Geth they aren't to be trusted, they killed my father!" She said screaming the last part.

"Tali please calm down I'm doing this for you and your people." He said trying to desperately to calm her.

"How is this going to help? The geth drove us from our home world why would you want their help?" Tali said angrily her hands were balled up into fists and she was visibly shaking.

"Tali I am trying to negotiate a peace treaty between the geth and the quarians and the biggest condition is that the geth allow the quarians back on Rannoch without conflict. The Admiralty board should be here by noon tomorrow. It seems the geth got here a bit earlier than expected." Shepard said. He pressed a button on his console. "Legion can you please go meet your fellow Geth and begin preparing for tomorrow?"

"Of course Shepard Commander, We are glad negotiations with the creators can begin without problems and so swiftly. We had assumed that negotiations would be dealt with after the old machines had been destroyed."

"With the Reapers on the move we'll need to have the support of both the Geth and the Quarians it was only a logical solution." Shepard responded. Turning off the com Shepard turned back to Tali.

"That little house you always wanted on Rannoch will be a reality soon." Shepard whispered. Tali broke down and began to cry in Shepard's arms.

"I just wish my father could be alive to see it." She whispered her voice broken with pain.

**Next Day**

"Admiral Zaal'Koris, I believe you would like to speak first." Shepard said.

The Admiralty board and Legion stood in a small conference room on different sides of the table. Legion was hooked up to a server that was connected to the rest of the Geth ships present on Freedom's Progress. Both Parties had been stripped of anything that could be used as any form of weapon on either side. For added protection Grunt and Thane stood outside the door fully armed in case they were needed.

Shepard had volunteered to be the mediator for this conference. Multiple cameras were set up and were broadcasting back to the Migrant fleet.

"Thank you Commander. I would like to start by apologizing to the geth for the acts of aggression that my people have shown to the geth in the past but I do not speak for my entire people. Something that my people do offer is this option. Correct me if I am wrong but do the Geth not spend most of their time in space mining from meteors and don't specifically need the planets you control for much more than its gravitational pull?" Zaal began

"You are correct in your assumption, Geth facilities on many planets hold very little importance to the true Geth but the Heretics are very protective of every inch of land or space they have conquered which includes the planet Rannoch. If we held it we would very quickly hand it over to the creators but the Heretics don't have any interest in any dialogs with the creators and wish to let the old machines to decide out fate." Legion said in his synthesized voice betraying no emotion of any kind.

"You mention the heretics and these old machines please clarify what those are if you will." Admiral Daro'Xen asked curiously.

"The old machines are what Shepard Commander has referred to as 'Reaper's. They have reprogrammed a small portion of the Geth to serve their bidding. The Heretics are that portion of geth the old machines have promised a false future to. The true geth have no qualms with the creators and are quite glad that these negotiations are underway." Legion said.

"Hmm." Was the only response that the Admiral gave.

"Platform Legion do you think there is way to retake Rannoch without bloodshed?" Admiral Han'Gerrel asked.

"We believe that the heretics will fight, as the human metaphor goes, "tooth and nail" for the land they have if either true geth or creator ship is spotted. This is not a confirmed assumption but a likely one." Legion stated.

The Admiralty board was silent for a moment. It was obvious by the way they kept looking at each other that private coms were being used to discuss options. After a good 15 minutes it seemed the Admirals had agreed on something.

Admiral Zaal'Koris spoke first. "Platform Legion before we offer our proposal we would like to clarify a few points. The true geth do not hold any hostility towards the Quarian race?"

"We forgave the creators 200 years ago for the transgressions against the geth realizing that the attacks were out of fear and was a very understandable reaction. As long as transgressions don't continue on a large scale with backing from Quarian government we are willing to as the human saying goes "forgive and forget"." Legion says calmly.

"We also wish to clarify that the true geth hold no sympathy with the heretics as you call them." Admiral Hans'Gerrel said.

"This is true; the heretics want others to craft a future for the geth instead of a future created for the geth by the geth. We can't let this happen or our race is doomed." Legion stated.

"Then we have a proposition for the Geth." Admiral Shala'Raan said. "We would like the geth's support in the recapture of Quarian worlds held by the heretic geth and the return of any Quarian world held by the true geth. In return we are willing to recognize the geth as a sentient race and allow you to keep your facilities in orbit functioning, as long as they pose no threat to inhabitants on the planet. We also are willing to help in the construction of the geth mega structure in return for the ability to request some assistance from the geth in the ways of manual labor. Trade agreements for said services can be named by the Geth."

"We would also like a technological sharing agreement to be added the official treaty that would allow both Geth and Quarians access to the others technology. In return for this the Quarian will outlaw and persecute all who try to use Geth technology to reprogram or harm a geth." Admiral Daro'Xan said.

"It is my personal hope that one day we can have Geth and Quarians working side by side for the betterment of both our races." Admiral Zaal'Koris said hopefully.

Legion stood still for a moment making the occasion beep or whir before coming to again. "We Geth have no problems with said agreement but we would like to make one amendment. In the event of heretic uprising among the Geth we would like assistance from the Creators in dealing with them. As well we would like to ban the creation of another AI unit by the creators to avoid another race like the Geth from arising."

This greatly surprised the entire room. "Legion, the Geth wish to be the only sentient AI in the galaxy, isn't that a bit hypocritical?" Shepard asked speaking up for the first time.

"You mistake our intentions Shepard Commander. We only wish no other sentient life be oppressed like the original Geth. No AI can be re-written or destroyed if they are never created. It will also save the creators from having to deal with another displacement from their home worlds again." Legion said in his usual robotic monotone.

The board spent another few minutes discussing this new clause of the peace agreement. When they addressed Legion again Admiral Zaal'Koris stepped forward. 'We accept the terms and conditions proposed by the Geth and hope that this treaty will issue a new and permanent era of peace and prosperity between our two races." As the Admiral finished he extended his hand across the table. Legion stared at it for a moment before extending his own. The two shook slowly before the two sat back down.

Shepard stepped forward and passed two data chips to Legion and the Admiralty board. "Other than seeking to bring peace between the Geth and the Quarians, I had another reason for assembling the representatives of both you races. The Reapers are coming to this Galaxy to eradicate all life like they did with the Protheans. I have just given you all the information we have gathered on the Reaper and their servants the Collectors. We have also included weapons and armor data for warships that have proven effective against them. The Black Knight were formed to combat this threat, not just protect the Terminus systems. We however cannot do this alone; we would like the help of both the Quarians and the Geth in stopping the Reapers when they do arrive. So do I have your support for when the time comes?"

The entire room was silent for a moment before Legion spoke. "Shepard commander, you have been a great help to the Geth in both dealing with the heretics and the old machines in the past; we the True Geth are willing to help however we can and urge our new allies to do the same.

The Admiralty board was silent for a long while but eventually spoke. "We cannot speak for the entire Migrant Fleet at the moment but we if the rest of the fleet agrees we will gladly help you Shepard vas Normandy." Admiral Shala'Raan said.

"Thank you before we break today I suggest that both the Geth and the Quarians begin rearming and building your forces. The Black Knights will personally see to the recapture of Rannoch to help prevent loss of life on both sides."

"What right do you have to take back our home planet; having someone else do it will make the Quarians appear weak." Admiral Han challenged accusingly.

"A show of strength will bolster the ranks among the Black Knights. Plus that the Migrant fleet has many ships that can't fight and both leaving them unprotected and bringing them with you is a very bad idea." Shepard countered.

Admiral Han grumbled a bit "Who will be leading the attack on Rannoch?" He asked after a moment.

"Legion will lead the attack assisted by Kaidan Alenko and the 1st biotics platoon. They should be able to get the job done quickly and with little to no casualties."

"One platoon to take an entire planet, that's a gutsy call Shepard." Admiral Han said.

"Just wait by the end of the month Rannoch will be held by the Quarians." Shepard assured his a cocky grin on his face.

"Why aren't you personally leading the mission Shepard?" Admiral Shala asked.

"I have a much more dangerous mission I need to attend to besides Kaidan and his team can handle themselves especially with the Legion backing them up." Shepard assured her.

"What mission would that be?" She responded

"I am heading to Tuchanka, Urdnot Wrex has started a unification war and I wish to assist him in this endeavor. Though he has rallied many clans already a few still hold out and I hope to end this quickly and without more bloodshed."

After a few more minutes of discussion the delegates returned to their ship to discuss things with the Migrant Fleet. The Geth left as well claiming they would be needed to prepare new warships.

As the day came to a close Shepard walked slowly back to his room looking more worn out and tired than he had ever before. Though the negotiations had obviously gone well, being reminded of what he needed to do on Tuchanka put a huge strain on his mental health, which was already in poor condition.

He as soon as the first airlock door closed he slumped against it suddenly feeling weak. A UV light began to scan his body the rays killing as any sort of foreign bacteria on his body. After waiting another few minutes for the air to properly filter, the door snapped open to the room he shared with Tali.

Looking around he found her on lying on the bed wearing nothing but her veil. She was staring intently at a data pad and yelped when he fell onto the bed next to her.

"John I can't believe it. The Geth actually agreed to give us our home world, and it's all because of you." Tali said wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss. When they broke apart Shepard whispered in her ear. "I told you I would keep your father's promise."

Tali grinned and hugged him again. "How did I get so lucky? Most men give girls jewelry or flowers. You give me a planet." Tali said laughing.

They both laughed for a moment before lying down to get some sleep. The minute Shepard's head hit the pillow he passed out from sheer exhaustion.

**AN: Many of you may be wondering why I brought back Sidonis. I did this because he was a character people already knew of. He had a back-story and a personality I could change around with relative ease. Plus Shepard's first choice of soldier would be from people he knew.**

**Also the chapter was set up 6 months later so that it didn't seem like the base at Freedom's Progress was set up in a weak. Plus it takes time to gather forces of any kind.**

**I am not in any way a geneticist or a biologist so I have no idea if there are problems with Tali and Shepard's child I mainly put it in for plot development later in the story. Don't hate me for it or point out how it can't happen because it is staying get used to it.**

**Anyway Please review and give criticism I appreciate it when people tell me how to improve my story.**

**Prince of Madness 54**


	3. Invasion

**AN: I got to say this is probably the fasted I have ever gotten a chapter out especially of this size.**

**12Bravo: I thought that the whole militia idea would be a bit more realistic than him pulling an army of highly trained commando's out of thin air. I was already pushing it with the whole Cerberus built a fleet of 100 some ships in 2 years including 2 dreadnoughts and a carrier. And Thanks for the encouragement.**

**Nosaki 'Halfbreed' Shulon: Your right the scene was rushed but that was the point. I threw it in there because it was supposed to be a sudden unexpected event. **

**Cutlass-Cougar: My thoughts exactly.**

**Inverness: as I said last time I'm no biologist, the pregnancy is mainly there for plot reasons latter along in the story, **

**As a side note to the rest of the readers, just go with it. **

**Oh and also I'm going to ask you opinion for this one well in advance. What species do you think the baby should resemble more Quarian or Human?**

**Black Knight Cruiser, **_**the Artemis**_

**Kaidan Alenko, 1****st**** Biotics Platoon**

Kaiden sighed nervously. Battles never used to affect him like this. It used to be, go in shoot the bad guy and get out. Every time he prepped for battle a mental image for Ashley would pop up in his mind. She had been a good friend and she had been the first soldier he had ever lost under his command. Not to mention she died so he could live.

"Hey are you ok?" Kolyat Krios asked him.

Kolyat was his 2nd in command and a damned good biotic at that. Though not nearly as good as his father in the more subtle arts of being an assassin, he was still very agile and dexterous not to mention the best biotic in the platoon aside from himself. He was a valuable soldier and friend.

Kaiden put up a fake smile and rammed a fresh thermal clip into his M-9 "Yah just thinking about some things from some earlier missions."

"Hey commander getting cold feet about this one." Alora called from the other end of the drop ship. This got a round of laughs from the soldiers in the ship. Kaidan shook his head in defeat, even though the Asari had 25 years on him she always acted like a teenager. If nothing else it kept things lively among the squad.

Kaidan took one last look at the other 28 assorted Humans, Asari, Turians, and even a Quarian. All of them had biotic potential and the military training to back it up. They were his platoon; thirty people whose lives depended on his quick thinking and skill. They would all make it back even if he had to die in the process.

The Artemis lurched as it exited FTL a few moments later an explosion rocked the ship. "Lieutenant Alenko make sure your team is ready now, we only have one shot at this and we're gonna use it whether you're ready or not." Captain Sidonis called out over the intercom.

"Already, I want everyone ready to jump in five double time move it. The Geth is going to meet us on the ship to upload the virus but we need to clear a good landing zone is that clear." Kaidan shouted grabbing his pack.

'Yes sir!" The platoon shouted running around grabbing different supplies.

Kaiden ran to the launch pad specially installed for this mission. The pad launched a pod similar to an escape pod which was designed to break through the hull of a ship and allow a squad of six to be deployed inside the ship. Inside his pod were Kolyat, Alora, a turian and another two Asari.

"T-minus 3 minutes and counting," An automated voice called out over the speaker. Kaidan strapped in and made sure his M-9 and the spare clips were attached sturdily to his armor. "T-minus 1 minute and counting…5…4…3…2…1. Launching pod one."

The small pod was launched with unbelievable force only to be stopped seconds later with bone jarring force accompanies by the sound of ripping metal. Kaidan quickly removed his restraints and slammed his fist into the button on the wall of the pod that opened the front hatch. He ran out of the pod first sweeping the area with his M-9 biotic energy radiated from his pores bathing his body in a deep blue light.

Kolyat was the next out; sweeping the other half of the hall they landed in with his M-97. The other four pods began to smash into the station all on different levels. They were supposed to meet at the main data core and wait for the Geth Legion to arrive. "Alright let's move out." Kaidan shouted following the map on his HUD on how to get to the core.

The six soldiers ran down the hall with Kaidan at point, always watching for signs of movement. As they came to the end of the hallway the door slid open and four Geth walked out rifles raised. Kaiden released his biotic energy launching all four Geth. The turian stepped up with an M-86 Reaper mowing down the Geth.

The M-86 looked very much like the M-76 except it was a belt fed weapon. Every time a thermal clip was filled it would eject and the next clip would fill its place. With a chain of 100 stored in a box on the side of the rifle it could be fired continually for hours if needed.

One of the Geth left on the ground began to squirm trying to reach for its fallen rifle. Kolyat corrected that with a shot to the thing's "Skull".

Kaidan's squad stacked up on either side of the door as it opened. Plasma began to fill the hall as the waiting Geth open fired. With a nod from Kaidan six orbs of biotic energy were launched down the hall throwing the Geth in all directions. As the team cleaned up the remaining Geth two more dropped from the ceiling knocking Alora and another Asari off their feet before ramming a knife into their chests.

Reacting Kaiden and Kolyat launched the two Geth into the opposite wall as the Turian and Asari pumped round after round the Geth until they were surly dead. Kaiden and Kolyat began to administer medi-gel to the wounded Asari. Both had deep stab wounds and were rapidly losing blood.

"How bad is it commander?" Alora asked.

"The knife missed any major organs so you'll live." Kaidan told her. Her wounds were deep but not life threatening after the mission a few days of medical leave would be needed but the Asari would be fine.

"Good I owe the Geth a little pay back for that one." She said standing up dizzily. Kaiden steadied her as she almost fell over wincing in pain as she strained her injury.

"Kolyat how is she?" He asked the Drell.

"Not good the knife stuck a lung she'll live if she gets immediate medical care." He replied his throaty voice sounded grim.

"Artemis this is Kaiden we need an immediate medical pickup if possible." He said over the radio.

"We can't do that right now Alenko we are in the middle of an engagement with a Geth ship how long does the person have?"

Kaiden turned to Kolyat who just shrugged.

"Lieutenant, don't fuss over me it's not that serious just give me a double dose of medigel I should be fine." The Asari said before she began to cough up blood.

"I won't risk it. Artemis please try to send a medical rescue as soon as you can we are going to set her in pod X-5 and jettison it try and send someone from the fleet to pick it up when possible." He said over the radio.

"Rowana please accompany her in the pod try and keep her alive." Kaidan said addressing the third Asari on the team."

"Of course sir." She said helping the wounded woman to her feet and walking back to the pod.

As they left the team began to head out again when they heard a scream. Racing back to the two Asari they found them riddled with wounds and a Geth Prime and two Geth destroyers in the hall near the pod.

"Damn you!" Kaiden shouted unloading his M-9 into the Geth shattering one of the destroyer's kinetic barriers. He launched the Geth back before his own barrier was brought down and he was forced to find cover himself.

Kolyat was bobbing in and out of different cover pumping slugs from his shotgun into the Geth prime. Its armor was tough and hard to break through but eventually the combined firepower of Kolyat and the turian's M-86 brought it down with the Geth destroyer following it.

As the last Geth went down Kaidan walked over to retrieve the dog tags of the fallen Asari. His face showed only a fraction of the grief he felt over his lost soldiers. When he looked back at his team his eyes burned with fire as he spoke. "No more losses. These Geth will fall today and it will be because of us the 1st biotics. Show no mercy for they won't show you any." He said the pain showing in his facial features. No one spoke but they all nodded.

The team rushed through the base with horrifying speed. Mangled Geth lay strewn in every room the team passed making an easily follow able trail for anyone who might want to find them.

Kaidan's team was the first to make it to the data core joined shortly by the four others. They set up defensive fortifications then activated the beacon that let Legion know it was time to make an appearance. The room had three doors making it hard to defend because the Geth could come from any direction. Only the data core gave them a safe angle but after seeing the Geth that took down Alora earlier they would check behind them every now and then.

Luckily for the team the Geth didn't need oxygen so air ducts wouldn't be an issue. What worried Kaiden were the Geth's stealth systems. Though not entirely invisible in the heat of battle they could easily be missed. On Eden Prime Kaiden had seen dozens of men cut down for this same reason. His platoon would not make the same mistake.

A downside to signaling Legion by beacon was that every other Geth on the station was able to pick it up and was drawn to the signal. For ten minutes the 1st biotics were able to fight off the Geth when Legion showed up. After throwing down a large bag full of fresh thermal clips the Geth quickly went right to work uploading the software without a word.

After the latest wave of Geth was dealt with the forces just stopped coming. This put Kaiden on edge, Legions estimated several thousand Geth combat platforms were on this station. The platoon had only taken down a few hundred at best.

"Hey Legion did you stop the Geth advance or should we be worried." Kaidan asked cautiously never taking his eyes off the doors.

"We have done nothing to stop the heretics advance, most likely Heretics are considering their options and wondering what a true Geth is doing working with aliens. So yes I would be worried." Legion said.

Kaidan grit his teeth and prepared for the worst. "How much longer before we can get out of this place" Kaidan asked hating the silence he was hearing.

"A few more minutes I need to bury the virus so that the heretics will not realize we have placed it and only used this station to gather data on deployments of mobile platforms.

"Try to hurry." He said angrily.

"Kaidan look out." Kolyat shouted as he tackled him to the ground. Not a second later a bullet slammed into the bulkhead where Kaidan was a moment ago. Kolyat pulled his pistol and began to fire at a space on the wall. After five rounds one struck something, shields flared outlining a Geth Hunter. The rest of the squad began to fire rounds and biotics all over the room to try and test for hunters after the first was brought down. Before too long the normal Geth began to surge into the room again making it harder to find the hunters.

In the fighting two humans were brought down by the Geth, wounded but alive, for how long though was the question. The fighting only intensified as the minutes ticked on. The constant interruptions made the minute long work Legion was supposed to be doing turn into an hour long processes split between hacking and shooting.

"Kaidan Lieutenant I have completed the job, I suggest the evacuation of you squad immediately."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Kaidan muttered. "Everybody fall back double time. Get out now!" He shouted at his soldiers

"Lieutenant this is the dreadnought Night Angel we are providing an exit shuttle at these coordinates the shuttle should be large enough to evacuate your entire team, but hurry we can only stay in the system so much longer." A voice blared out over the radio.

"Night Angel we read you, pulling out to that location." Kaidan said in a strained voice as he smashed a Geth into the floor with his biotic energy.

The platoon made their way through a vast number of rooms each will with more Geth than the last. Finally the platoon made it to the shuttle practically collapsing into their seats. By the end of the mission 5 additional soldiers lost their lives bringing the death count up to 7.

**Tuchanka **

**Krogan war for unification**

**Week-5**

Shepard waited patiently for the signal, always watching the target through his scope. He was lying prone on the 5th floor of a half collapsed building. Across the street Shepard knew Garrus was in a similar position. As the senior assassin Thane was running this operation but where he was Shepard could only guess. Thane had told him and Garrus set up in the buildings while he found the best position to fire from.

Ruble lay strewn everywhere making it easy to hide. This part of Tuchanka was no different from the rest; the city had been in ruins since before the Salarians found them. No one would notice if a piece of ruble was strategically moved to help hide the barrel of his M-98 "Window" anti-material rifle. To further enhance his camouflage Shepard wore BDUs in place of his normal Kestrel armor. The BDUs specially made to blend in with urban environments and to hide heat signatures. Over his right eye was a visor similar to the one Garrus wore.

The team of three had been waiting for three hours already hoping to get a shot at their target. The target was Jurdon Zarlev, one of the higher ups in the Jurdon clan. The Jurdon clan had rallied the remaining clans not under the protection from clan Urdnot against the idea of unification. Urdnot intelligence said that Zarlev would be coming to the trenches to see if the 3rd line needed reinforcing. It was Shepard job to make sure he never got there.

As the minutes ticked by after the start of the fourth hour Shepard began to worry if the intel had been bad. His fears were thrown aside as one of the trucks the Krogans were always referring to as a "Tonka" rolled up and four Krogans jumped out. Earlier the team had set up an improvised roadblock they knew a Krogan "Tonka" couldn't handle

They fanned out M-8's raised scanning for danger. After the all clear signal was given, a fifth Krogan jumped out. He began to talk to his men but Shepard was too far away from them to make anything out but by the way he was reacting he was mad.

A small outline appeared around one of the Krogan guards on his visor's HUD followed by a countdown from 5. Shepard drew in a breath as he lined up the shot. He held his breath to steady his rifle as the clock counted down. Shepard could feel a bead of sweat drip down his forehead; he did not dare move to wipe his brow. At the last second his target turned away from him and he lost the shot. Panic hit as he desperately lined up a new target. When the timer hit zero he took the shot regardless of where he was aiming. Three cracks could be heard simultaneously as three M-98s sent their payload hurtling through the air.

Shepard grunted as the stock slammed into his shoulder heavily bruising the skin underneath. If Shepard hadn't been using a bi-pod it would have surely dislocated his shoulder. A .60mm shell slammed into Zarlev's skull, liquefying his brain and taking a large chunk of the right side of his face when the bullet exited his body. The three Krogan fell, never seeing their opponents.

"Show yourself, no real Krogan hides himself in the shadows!" One of the guards challenged.

Shepard slid back the bolt of the M-98 loading a new shell. It was a taboo among the Krogans to use a sniper in combat. Krogans found much more pride and honor in facing their opponents out in the open. So the two remaining Krogans stood their ground with M-8s drawn and ready. Two shots again rang out followed by another two bodies hitting the ground.

Shepard collapsed his M-98 and carefully descended from the building. By the time he made it down from the building Thane and Garrus were already confirming Zarlev's identity.

"Dirty human how dare you interfere in a Krogan war, and use such craven tactics have you no honor." The first Krogan Shepard shot shouted. Shepard had missed the Krogan's skull and had put a bullet in one of the Krogan's hearts stunning it momentarily.

"There are no underhanded tactics in war" Shepard said drawing his M-5

"You humans are no better than the Salarians and their genophage. Burn in hell all of you." The Krogan shouted as Shepard pumped three rounds into the Krogan's skull. Blood splattered up at him coating his BDU pants and boots.

"Shepard what do you want us to do with this vehicle?" Garrus called from inside the Tonka.

"Pile the bodies inside I have an idea." Shepard said. Grabbing the some grenades the Krogans had on them he used some duct tape he found in the Tonka to attach them to the main fuel tank. Grabbing one of the fallen Krogan's M-8's he taped it so that it would line up with the grenades perfectly. Using a bit of chain from the Tonka he attached it to the trigger of the M-8 and the door. With a bit of work and careful precision he was able to get the chain taunt enough so that it would pull the trigger if the door was opened any more than a centimeter.

Shepard smiled sadly at his handiwork. "Alright let's get back to the trenches before they start looking for their missing leader." Shepard said.

**AN: I felt this was a good place to stop because if I kept going the chapter would probably have taken me another three days to finish.**

**Also I am going to probably be fucking with Kaidan's personality a lot because as I've said before I never played the first game and don't know what he is like, so I'm winging it with him.**

**Anyway tell me what you think the chapter and anything I could improve on. **

**Prince of Madness 54**


	4. War

**AN:**

**Solrac: You did kind of put more thought into it but I appreciate it a lot. It made me think a bit more about my idea for the Quarians looks.**

**SergiustheGreat: Tali is on the Normandy with some of the other crew while Shepard is on Tuchanka**

**Timman94: Thanks for that. Not really knowing what Kaidan is like I really winged it.**

**To answer Mr. Solrac's question bellow I will provide a description of a Quarian's physical features that are obscured by the suit.**

**Eyes: A pure silvery color**

**Skin pigmentation: light lavender for female, a darker shade for male**

**Hair: very short in the helmet varies from shades of white, black, and brown**

**No scales, feathers, etcetera**

**If I missed anything tell me I'll add it next chapter along with a description of Tali under the mask and suit.**

**Anyway enjoy the Chapter**

**In orbit over Rannoch**

_**The Artemis**_**- Black Knights 2****nd**** Fleet**

**During the 1****st**** Biotics Platoon's operation**

The Artemis dropped out of FTL first leading the invasion fleet, closely followed by the Dreadnought _The Night Angel _and the rest of the fleet. The 2nd fleet consisted of 28 cruisers and 22 frigates plus its flagship _The Night Angel._ All painted a deep black; they were hardly visible in the void of space.

"Let the rest of the fleet engage first we have other things to do." Sidonis ordered his crew. "Lieutenant Alenko make sure your team is ready now, we only have one shot at this and we're gonna use it whether you're ready or not." He yelled into the intercom a moment later.

"Helmsmen take us in close to the station make sure both of the Thanix cannons are powering up. We will most likely have to fight our way back to the fleet." He said slouching forward in his chair.

As _The Artemis_ got closer to the station _The Night Angel_ fired its first shot of the battle. The 850 meter long duel Thanix cannons obliterated four Geth destroyers. If Sidonis had not seen the ships before the dreadnought fired he would never have even began to think the mangled heaps of melted metal had ever once resembled a ship.

A dreadnoughts power was never to be underestimated. "Helmsman how much longer before we are in safe firing range?" Sidonis asked. He didn't like having to deliver the 1st in this way but it was safer than sending them in a corvette.

"Captain three Geth destroyers have entered an intercept trajectory they will be in firing range in 30 seconds." One of the crew shouted to him.

"Fire the port side Thanix when they are in range, Ensign Williams was the PPC installed before we left?" He asked.

"Negative sir the main gun is offline, but Miss Zorah's team assured us that the Thanix should be enough as long as the flagship is still able to fire." Ensign Williams responded. "Sir the 1st Biotics are ready to be launched." He added

"Do it quickly now we need to regroup with the main fleet before we are completely surrounded." Sidonis said.

A panel opened on the side of _The Artemis_ revealing a small muzzle. Five conic pods were launched and imbedded into the hull of the Geth orbital station.

"All pods have successfully boarded the ship." A crewman called out.

"Good, now let's deal with those three Geth ships and rejoin the fleet." Sidonis said. "Target the lead ship and fire the port side cannon. Draw power from all non essential systems and transfer it to the kinetic barriers."

The liquid tungsten round shot from the cannons smashed into the lead ship ripping a hole in the ship from bow to stern before the ship exploded from the shear damage to the drive core. As the remaining ships approached a volley of plasma torpedoes fired from the each destroyer's six cannons. Banking to starboard the cruiser was able to avoid many of the projectiles, but four torpedoes struck _The Artemis_ square on the port engines; the kinetic barriers held, but just barely.

"Damage report." Sidonis called as he felt the ship rock from the explosion.

"The port engines were hit but the barriers held. We can't sustain another shot like that."

Lining up the starboard cannon _The Artemis_ fired again. The Geth ship banked and was able to get nothing more than a glancing blow. The liquid tungsten shell tore a gorge in the side of the hull but the ship remained operational.

"Artemis this is Kaidan we need an immediate medical pickup if possible." Kaidan called over the com desperately.

Another explosion rocked the _Artemis_ as a plasma torpedo made contact with the hull. "We can't do that right now Alenko we are in the middle of an engagement with a Geth ship how long does the person have?" Sidonis said closing the channel for a moment he shouted. "Open fire on those Geth ships if you can take the shot take it, don't wait for my signal."

"Artemis please try to send a medical rescue as soon as you can we are going to set her in pod X-5 and jettison it try and send someone from the fleet to pick it up when possible." Kaiden responded a minute later over the radio.

As soon as the order was given the two Thanix cannons began unloading its lethal fire power on the two Geth ships. In two minutes the Geth ships were reduced to a smoldering pile of slag.

"Navigator plot a course that will bring us just outside the range of the Geth fleet on its left flank."

"Captain none of our ships are over there why do you want us to go there?" The Navigator asked.

"An idea I have to take some pressure off the main fleet." Sidonis said.

It took a great deal of time but Sidonis finally got his ship into position. "Now divert all power to weapons and the FTL drive."

A look of general astonishment went around the crew in the bridge, but the orders were followed.

"Now fire all weapons into the Geth fleet, make sure to hit as many ships as possible." Sidonis ordered.

The Artemis must have looked quite foolish as it fired every torepedo in its arsenal, every five seconds a Thanix cannon was shot at a different ship, even the GUARDIAN lasers were being used to shoot at the Geth ship.

Mummers went around the ship about if the captain was trying to piss of the Geth. That was in fact the very thing he wanted to do. After the first volley hit the Geth fleet with very minimal damage, nearly one hundred ships adjusted course and headed straight at the Artemis.

"Helmsman adjust angle of the ship to 75 degrees our current angle and gun the FTL drive the minute the Geth are in range, but make sure the Thanix have enough power to fire."

"Sir the destination for our jump?" The helmsman asked.

"The right flank of the Geth fleet."

"Sir that jump would mean dropping out of FTL the moment we enter." The Helmsman said concerned.

"Then do it." Sidonis said standing to examine a deployment map of the different ships. "The pressure on the main fleet is thinning. They will be more effective with less Geth shooting at them."

"Jumping now." The helmsman shouted as the Artemis jerked into FTL.

Sidonis was shot back into his seat then thrown onto the floor as the ship just as violently exited FTL. Rotating the ship a complete 180 degrees the gunnery crew once again began the bombardment of the Geth fleet.

Trying to fix their previous mistake the Geth only sent one or two ships at the Artemis. They were ripped to shreds by the Artemis's Thanix cannons that now had double the range thanks to the increase in power to the cannons electromagnetic fields.

Eventually the Geth gave chase to the Artemis again. This time though another surprise was waiting for them. One neither the Geth nor the crew of the Artemis expected. _The Night Angel_'s massive Thanix fired a round right into the approaching Geth's formation.

Out of the hundred or so ships that had pursued the Artemis only a couple dozen survived. Most cut down by the dreadnoughts massive gun but a good number were picked off by the Artemis's Thanix as well.

Sidonis stared in amazement at the carnage that had been wrought. The mangled bulkheads that used to be Geth ships would provide cover for the Artemis and an obstacle the Geth would have to work their way around. This plan had worked better than expected. For another thirty minutes the Artemis was like a knife in the side of the Geth fleet. If they left it there it would hurt, but if they tried to remove it they would just bleed faster.

"Message to all ships this is _The Night Angel_ the information has been gathered and the team retrieved. Prepare to make the jump to FTL."

"You heard the man let's get out of here" Sidonis said to his helmsman as the Artemis jumped into FTL headed for the local mass relay.

**Trenches of Tuchanka**

Shepard and some of his team had been in these trenches for almost a week strait only leaving for the occasional sniper op. Due to the high gravity on Tuchanka the Normandy wasn't able to get planet side and the Jurond's anti-air systems had prevented any ship bigger than a fighter from entering the planet; so conventional heavy weapons couldn't be deployed en mass. Shepard had figured killing enough of the command structure for the Jurdon force would allow Wrex a chance to exploit the chaos and win the war. That tactic seemed to only enrage the Jurdon more. Even some of Wrex's own men were having doubts about which side they were on because of the "cowardly aliens" as they put it.

He needed an idea and quickly or else this war would be lost and he would lose support of the Krogans. The Korgans admired feats of strength and guts how could he…

"Here they come, show them the strength of clan Urdnot!" A Krogan shouted.

Shepard hurriedly grabbed his M-76 revenant machine gun. Running out of the bunker he saw many Krogans vaulting the entrenchments to face the enemy head on. Following suit Shepard vaulted over the trench and began firing at the opposing Krogans.

The Urdnot clan had gone into the fight outnumbered due to Wrex bringing most of his Krogan up with him in his charge. It had gained a good two miles of territory but had weakened much of the remaining line.

Shepard ducked behind a piece of ruble and assessed the situation. He had maybe fifty Urdnot Krogan left at his disposable, while the Jurdon force had at least a hundred Krogan and another two hundred or so Vorcha the Blood Pack had provided them with.

Using his slight biotic talent Shepard slammed a Krogan onto a group of Vorcha who were getting too close. As he observed the Jurdon strategy he noticed a pattern. The Vorcha would draw the attention of a Urdnot Krogan as one of the Jurdon Krogan would get in close with a Claymore shotgun and finish their target off quickly. The first step to defeating the Jurdon would be to get rid of the Vorcha.

An idea struck him suddenly. "Fall back, all Urdnot fall back." He shouted hoping it would work. After killing the Thresher Maw with Grunt and Mordin, Shepard gained some status among the clan; hopefully enough that they would respect his judgment.

The Krogan seemed to hesitate a moment not sure whether they should obey the human. "Listen to the human, the man is strong as he is wise this man would not run without a plan to draw more blood in the future." A voice rang out across the battlefield. Heads turned to the Urdnot Shaman who stood at the lip of the trenches Claymore raised.

The Krogan slowly made their retreat never turning from the Jurdon. Shepard on the other hand made a mad dash for the trench. Not caring how he looked in front of the Krogan he practically dove into a bunker.

The Shaman looked appalled; this was the man he had just sided with. He was a coward, not fit to command the respect of Clan Urdnot.

He was surprised when Shepard emerged a moment later with what appeared to be a large orange cannon. Shepard ran past him and vaulted over the trench into the mass of retreating Krogan. Seeing it as a call to charge again many Krogan did just that; much to Shepard's chagrin.

"Stay behind me unless you want to be obliterated." He yelled at the advancing Krogans. A red light appeared at the muzzle of the "cannon" and the barrel began to spin. The Krogan looked surprised but did as he said.

The Jurdon were confused. When the order to retreat had been called by the Urdnots they thought they had won; but now here was some human with a giant weapon and thirty some Krogan flanking him.

"Send the Vorcha to swarm the human and his pet Urdnots." The Jurdon lieutenant yelled.

Shepard smiled as he was the horde of Vorcha charge them, just as he thought they would. Aiming his M-920 Cain into the center of the hoard he released the first shell. The 25 gram high explosive slug crashed into the Chest of a Vorcha before exploding in a ball of fire. The explosion spread engulfing dozens of Vorcha and dismembering several more. Several napalm tanks were ignited causing more damaging and adding to the chaos and fear of the Vorcha.

"Now destroy these Vorcha dogs." Shepard shouted pulling his Revenant from his back.

Abandoning their charge the Vorcha fled, their numbers decimated from this horrifying weapon and with angry Krogans cutting down more of their ranks as they fled. Leading the counter attack was a human in black armor that fought like 10 Krogans. For years to come the surviving Vorcha would spread the legend of the Siyah Iblis, the Black Demon, who on this day slaughtered so many by himself.

As the Urdnots got in range of the Jurdon rifles Shepard ordered another retreat back out of range. The Krogans obeyed without question save a few who were cut down without remorse by the Jurdon. Forming the same formation during the Vorcha charge Shepard began to charge the M-920 Cain again.

The Jurdon Krogan could decide whether to fear this man or to want revenge for their fallen troops. They chose rage and revenge.

Shepard sighed as the indicator on his Cain his 100%. One pull of the trigger and the battle would be over his Urdnots would be able to overwhelm the Jurdon. As the charge got within 15 meters he pulled the trigger.

The carnage was worse than before. Burnt husks of Krogan flew; chunks of armor became lethal projectiles impaling more Krogans. Shotguns went off as the Krogan fell from the shockwave. Shepard began to slam the Krogans around with biotics, the Urdnot forces pumped round after round into their enemy.

Within five minutes any surviving Judon Krogan were fleeing. Shepard sighed as the Urdnot Krogan began to celebrate their victory.

"Get back to the trench Wrex ordered us to hold this position and after such a humiliating defeat the Jurdon are sure to be back. You will have more enemies to fight." Shepard said. It was always easy to motivate a Krogan, mention violence once and they will be interested. Jumping into the trench he headed straight to his bunker.

Ejecting the power cells from his M-920 he stuffed fresh one into the chamber watching the power meter jump from 0% to 200%. He collapsed it back up and laid it in a foot locker near his cot.

This war would drag out for years if they didn't come up with a way to win this quickly. Shepard sat down on his cot and leaned against the dirt wall. The Krogans would fight until there was nothing left of Tuchanka.

That was it fighting. An idea popped into his head suddenly. The Krogan were a proud violent race, if he could defeat the leader of the Jurdon in one on one combat and win he could end the war. This was obviously much easier said than done but it was worth a shot. Standing up he began to examine his tactical map.

From what the orbital scans could tell he the Urdnot main base was about fifty miles behind enemy lines. Not the best distance to try and cover on foot especially when he needed his strength for the fight with the Jurdon chief. His options were limited but he had a few ideas.

"Joker I want you to drop off the M-44 and get Zaeed and Samara planet side."

"Roger that Captain ETA ten minutes." Joker responded "Finally get to do something." He muttered as the comm. cut out

Making his way through the trenches Shepard came to a stop outside the communications bunker. The bunker used to be what he assumed had been an old Krogan residential home. The upper floor was completely in ruin and one of the walls on the ground floor was missing. The stairs that led to the basement and the communications equipment were solid granite slabs that had pieces missing from it but they were sturdy enough.

Descending the stairs he found the actual com room to be a mess. Angry Krogans were yelling into radios, Varren were snapping at chain leashes trying to get free, in short it was a mad house. Not wanting to stay long Shepard patched into one of the open frequencies with his Omni-tool. Running back outside, he patched into the radio channel for Wrex at the front lines.

After waiting for awhile while one of Wrex's subordinates to find him and get him to the radio he finally heard Wrex say. "This better be damned good Shepard there are 500 Krogan ready to disobey orders and charge a position right this moment, Urdnot Grunt was able to calm them but he can only do it for so long." Wrex barked

"I have a plan to end this war by the end of tomorrow but I'll need some help from you." Shepard began.

"Shepard whenever you have a plan either a lot of people die or there is one hell of an explosion sometimes both. I'm in what do you need?" Wrex asked very amused.

"I need you to send Grunt back to this position and reinforce it, we've been hit pretty hard lately and the line won't hold if I'm not here to keep your Krogan organized. I will place an Asari in command in my place while I'm gone. The Asari is a Justicar a powerful biotic plus she will have a man by the name of Zaeed with her; he is one tough son of a bitch.

"I am aware of Massani's reputation. Couldn't work as mercenary for all those years and not." Wrex said gruffly. Shepard couldn't tell if he heard a bit of respect in his voice when Wrex said his name.

"My plan is to go behind enemy lines in a small craft and challenge the Jurdon captain in person to a one on one fight of course I will have help in clearing out his thugs though." Shepard said "I will specifically state that it is a match for control of his clan and its forces."

"A gutsy move Shepard might get you killed." Wrex said slowly.

"Don't count on it Wrex." Shepard said lightheartedly

"Good point if a reaper couldn't kill you, what is one Krogan." Wrex said with a laugh. "I'll see what I can do about the reinforcements. Just make sure you plan is a success." Wrex said before cutting the line.

Patching into another signal he got a hold of Garrus and Thane who were running counter ops where ever they were needed. "Garrus I need you to pull back to Echo Foxtrot four nineteen is that clear."

"It is Shepard what do you have in mind?" Garrus asked.

"We're going to hit them where it hurts most." Shepard said

**Two Hours later**

**Behind Jurdon lines**

Shepard sat in the cockpit of the M-44 with Garrus and Thane in the passenger seats. It had been an hour since they passed through the lines. They had met heavy resistance but the M-44's main gun had been able to handle it without a problem. He would have to thank the Illusive man one of these days for letting him keep one of them.

The navigation system read that the base was only a mile or so away now. "Garrus take the controls when Thane and I leave make a distraction get as many Krogan away from the compound as you can." Shepard said standing up and loading a fresh clip into his Revenant.

"I'll try my best Shepard just make sure you beat that Krogan's ass." Garrus said moving into the pilot's chair.

"Thane lets go." Shepard said as the M-44 slowed to a stop. Jumping out the two made their way to a destroyed building and watched the Hammerhead glide away towards the base. Firing four rockets into the hastily constructed walls both toppled them over and got the Krogan chasing the M-44.

"Thane get me a visual how many Krogan are left in the building?" Shepard asked to the Drell next to him.

Thane raised his sniper and zoomed the in with the scope. "About four Shepard and I see maybe a dozen Vorcha in the base but I don't see anyone that looks like the leader but there is a tent in which those Krogan are surrounding I suspect it is a where the leader resides."

Nodding Shepard pulled out his own sniper and switched the indicator to incendiary rounds. "Here, take a shot at the tent when I am 25 meters from the base that should provide enough of a distraction that I will be able to get in unharmed."

Thane nodded taking the rifle and lining up the shot. Shepard bolted from his hiding place dodging ruble and destroyed vehicles. When he was within 25 meters he saw a single bullet streak across the sky and light up the tent like a torch. Several Krogan came running out of the tent in a fit of rage.

When he got to where the wall of the camp used to be he stopped and yelled. "I am here to challenge the Jurdon chief to single combat for the control of the clan. Will he show his face or hide like a pyjak."

A large Krogan in blood red armor howled in outrage. "What gives you the right to challenge me human? Why don't I just kill you know?" The Krogan challenged

Shepard raised his hand and lowered it sharply. Five shots rang out and five of the Vorcha fell dead by Thanes hand. "Because if you try anything like that my friend will have killed you all before you can reach me."

"If we are to have this fight it will be without weapons per Krogan tradition." The Krogan said dropping his shotgun.

Dropping his Revenant Shepard cracked his knuckles before dropping into a fighting stance.

"AAAAAHHHH" The Krogan roared before charging Sheppard head on.

**AN: I hate ending it here but I want to get the chapter out so I can focus on the fight a bit more and stick to my goal of one chapter a week.**

**Also How did I do with the describing the space battle I had some difficulty with it so some feedback from you guys is appreciated.**

**Once again please tell me about any mistake I may have made so I can correct them later. Also how is my level of detail in general when it comes to different things, ok, needs work, needs a lot of work, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to add more when I can.**

**Prince of Madness 54**


	5. Detriment of Battle

**AN: Well here is my next chapter sorry for the wait been a hectic week, and as a side note I will probably be updating this story every Friday/Saturday if I can. So to all my loyal fans that may not have me on story alert, check the archive around then and hopefully you'll find something.**

**Anyway on to question answering**

**Solrac: I have not read much about what other fans think what the Quarians look like but I always pictured them as humanoid but with a few differences. Like Bioware said in the Codex they have no outer ear, the eyes have no visible pupil, (please don't get scientific with me on this, thank you) and they have no eyebrows. Sorry I seem to be conforming to the majority (I am not a fan of doing so for anything) but this is how I pictured them as I played through Mass Effect and am going to keep it that way. Though I am very interested in what you would want the Quarians to look like, sounds like it would be interesting**

**12Bravo: Sorry about that but I wanted to get the chapter up that day and I knew if I attempted to write a fight scene for that chapter and still post it, it would be a piece of shit.**

"John! John!" A voice screamed. Images flashed before his eyes, florescent lights, a bloody Krogan, a grey haired woman leaning over him. His brain had entirely shut down; he could not make sense of anything. The voice screaming his name sounded familiar… Tilley…Holy… The name wouldn't come to him; then again nothing would, not even his own name. He gathered his strength and was able to force his eyelids open just enough to see vague shapes. Nothing made sense to him and the light caused a stab of pain in his head. He closed his eyes tightly hoping the pain would just go away.

A whir sounded and the overwhelming sent of disinfectants assaulted his senses. A plastic mask was placed over his face and a hissing sound could be heard. His vision began to blur, and the voices became undecipherable noise. When the darkness came he willingly accepted it.

**27 hours later**

Awareness came slowly; little by little he was able to regain the use of his five senses. His senses were bombarded the moment he was aware of them. The overwhelming agony came first, threatening to drag him back down into the darkness. The smell of disinfectants was still present in the air stronger now than before, or at least he thought so. His mouth had a distinct coppery taste to it…blood, it tasted like blood, his brain finally pulled from the disheveled memories. He could hear two voices, one quite loud, the other more contained.

"I won't…keep me out any more doctor…how bad…ok?" His brain was processed only small pieces of what was being said.

"Looked bad… several skull fractures…fractured clavicle…organ failure…shattered ribs… one of worst cases…not make it…" The 2nd voice was much calmer than and just as familiar as the first.

At this point he once again slipped into the blackness of unconsciousness. This process repeated again several times before he was able to even open his eyes. Several times during his brief moments of awareness he heard voices talking, the combination always changed but all sounded vaguely familiar. One voice though was always present. Every time he heard that voice he grasped desperately at the memories of this person but every time he got close they slipped away from him followed by the black void.

**Tali**

Shepard had been unconscious for nearly three weeks now. Every few days he showed sign of brainwave activity, but he would slip back into his comatose state within a few minutes. After his fight with the Krogan warlord he had been returned to the ship by Garrus and Thane and immediately rushed to the med bay for treatment. Both Dr. Chakwas and Mordin had furiously worked to save him. He had looked grim several bones had been broken or fractured; at least 16 blood vessels had been ruptured; he had two spinal disc herniations; five ribs had been broken and one of his broken ribs had pierced his lung. One of his kidneys had failed and was going to be replaced once he regained enough strength to stay conscious for a full day.

She had wondered a few times what had been worse for him, dying during reentry, or living through this.

The entire Normandy crew had come to see him on numerous occasions but she herself had practically moved into the medical bay. She had not left Shepard's side other than to eat and use the bathroom. She did both unwillingly but every time she tried to get out of eating the doctor had reminded her about her unborn child.

"It won't help Shepard if he wakes up to learn your child died of miscarriage because you were too worried about him to eat. The guilt would be unbearable for him. If you aren't there when he wakes because you were eating he will understand, plus the mess hall is a total of five meters from the med bay. If he wakes I'll call you." Chakwas had told her repeatedly. This had put her priorities back in check, if only temporarily.

A small groan roused her from her musings. She looked hopefully at the bed Shepard rested on. The alarm on her omni tool sounded, the alarm had been linked to one of the many machines that Shepard was hooked up to and would alert her if his brainwave activity increased to certain levels that signaled he was actively aware of himself or his surroundings.

"John? John can you hear me." She said approaching his bed.

Shepard shifted slightly in her direction and his eyes opened slowly. His eyes were unfocused and his voice scratchy, but she could make out his next three words none the less "Who are you?"

The words struck her like a lead weight. John didn't remember her. Chakwas had told her that amnesia was highly possible, but what if he never remembered who she was? No matter how much she tried not to her, mind kept conjuring up images of a future with Shepard in his current state, if the universe somehow survived without him. Not wanting to let Shepard see her cry, amnesia or not, she left the room and turned her suits speakers off.

**Several Hours later**

**Shepard**

Opening his eyes slowly Shepard was overcome with how bright the rooms lights were. Reflexively he tried to raise his hand to cover his eyes but when he did sharp pain forced him to abandon the action. As his eyes were able to adjust to the lighting of the room he began to remember what landed him in this room. His brutal death match with a Krogan

"Welcome back to the land of the living Commander." A voice called from across the room.

Shepard turned his head just enough to see Dr. Chakwas who was sitting at her desk. His memories of this person came shooting back and he smiled weakly at her "how bad was it doc?"

"You suffered a severe concussion, several failed organs, multiple ruptured blood vessels, several broken bones and more. Nothing Cerberus's technology couldn't fix but it wasn't easy." Chakwas told him getting up to examine his vitals.

"How long was I out for?" he asked dreading the answer.

"You have been unconscious for twenty-four days, Tali has been at your side for the better part of all of those, you put that woman through a lot of pain with this stunt Commander." Chakwas scolded him.

"It had to be done doc, where is she now?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know she left about an hour ago and I haven't seen her since." The doctor told him.

'That couldn't be good' He thought, he needed to find her. Forcing his body to move Shepard pulled himself into a sitting position. Typing in a few controls next to his bed, Shepard dragged himself into the wheelchair that had unfolded from the wall.

"Shepard what are you doing, you shouldn't be moving." Chakwas said trying to push him back into the bed.

"I need to find Tali." He said. It wasn't easy; not moving for more than three weeks had caused his muscles to begin to deteriorate. He was in for another surprise as well; he seemed to be unable to move his legs. A wave of terror washed over him, if he was paralyzed from the waist down he would never be able to do what needed to be done to save the galaxy from the Reaper threat.

"Shepard as a doctor I can't let you leave this room." Chakwas told him sternly.

"And as you captain I order you to let me pass and escort me to the elevator." Shepard commanded.

With a look of resentment on her face Chakwas let him pass and grudgingly went back to work ignoring the latter part of his order. She might let Shepard pass but she would be damned if she helped Shepard with his idiotic idea. This was on his head now.

Shepard wheeled himself over to the elevator and called it. As he waited he heard a door open behind him.

"Shepard you are conscious." Thane commented astonished.

"Thane have you seen Tali?" He asked desperately.

"Not since meal time this morning." Thane stated.

"Thanks anyway." Shepard said wheeling himself into the elevator.

He punched the button for the engine room, his nerves beginning to get to him. When the door opened he rolled down the gangway into the room only to find Gabby and Kenneth checking a few of the systems. "Gabby have you seen Tali."

"Not recently she's been in the med lab waiting for the Commander to…Commander Shepard!" Gabby shouted turning around snapping into a salute.

"When did you wake up sir?" Kenneth asked in amazement

"Just now." Shepard responded ignoring the salute. He turned around and wheeled back to the elevator. Punching up his private room and typing in the code needed to access that floor, he leaned back in the chair as another wave of pain assaulted his limbs with unyielding intensity. As the pain faltered the door slide open and the UV decontamination process began.

He rolled into the room to find Tali sitting on their bed her shoulders heaving. Her suit replaced by casual clothes.

"Tali are you ok?" He asked quietly.

Tali's head snapped towards him, her eyes wide in surprise. "John?" She asked in a broken voice.

"Tali what's wrong?" He asked grunting in pain as he shifted himself from the chair to the bed.

Tali face contorted in rage but her silver eyes betrayed her true pain. "You're what's wrong John!" She screamed. "You're always putting yourself in unnecessary danger, challenging a Krogan to a death match. It would have been different if you had been using a weapon but it was a fist fight. What is wrong with you?" Tali screamed beginning crying again tears sliding down her lavender skin. "How could you be so stupid?" She asked.

"Tali please I needed to…" Shepard began

"And I need you" she said interrupting him. "You can't just charge into situations like this without a thought for the consequences. You're going to be a father in a few months and if you keep doing stupid shit like this you may never get to see your child." She said in a voice just above a whisper.

"Tali please try to understand why I did it." Shepard begged. He lost his balance momentarily and tried catch himself with his arm. He muffled a scream as pain shot up his broken arm.

"John!" Tali helped him up, momentarily forgetting her anger "What happened to you?" She asked concerned.

The memories came rushing back to Shepard in an instant his brain was filled with images of the fight.

**Tuchanka**

**Jurdon base, 25 days ago**

"AAAAAHHHH" The Krogan roared before charging Sheppard head on.

The Krogan swung with a haymaker to Shepard's skull. Shepard ducked under it and sent a knee into the inner thigh of the Krogan and a hammer fist to its spine, toppling the Krogan. As it fell, the Krogan connected its elbow with Shepard's back toppling him as well. The blow had been a purely reflex on the Jurdon's part, but it still hurt like hell. He knew there would be a few bruises when this was over. Rolling over his shoulder, Shepard was able to get back into a standing position in seconds.

The Krogan on the other hand wasn't so dexterous and hit the ground hard. This would have dazed a normal human for at least a few seconds but it only made the Krogan angry; and a lot more dangerous. Pushing himself off the ground the Krogan released a terrible roar of pure unbridled furry.

Shepard took a few steps back not wanting to be in close proximity when the Krogan charged him again; he could only dodge so fast.

Shepard had studied a number of martial arts during his N7 training, Krav Maga, Sambo, Kung Fu, Judo, and Muay Thai. He would have to use all the skill he had plus some to take down the Krogan. As the Krogan charged him again he strafed left out of the Krogans reach and drop kicked his right knee. Shepard hit the ground hard a piece of ruble piercing his armor near his left shoulder blade and broke the skin. 'The first wound of the fight and it's self-inflicted; this couldn't be a good sign.' Shepard thought to himself as he watched the Krogan shake off the blow. Getting up himself he took a wild left hook at the Krogan's head followed by an uppercut with the right to his throat. The Krogan countered with a fierce headbut cracking Shepard's skull open like an egg.

He could feel the blood begin to trickle down his face. The crimson liquid dripped into his eyes turning his vision into a red haze. He wheeled back trying to clear his eyes of blood but was struck in the gut by an uppercut. He could hear his armor crack and the force of the blow launched him into the air. He landed on his feet but he stumbled a bit, the ruble under his feet not making it any easier to stay upright.

Finally wiping the blood from his eyes Shepard ducked under a hook and rammed his shoulder into the Krogan's midsection. Pivoting quickly he used his right leg to sweep the Krogan off its feet again. Using one leg as a brace he smashed his other foot into the Krogan's kneecap repeatedly effectively breaking its leg.

With the Krogan's fast regenerative properties the leg should heal quickly, but the bone would be out of place making the Krogan slower when charging, at least that was the theory anyway. Before he could repeat the process with the other leg the Krogan began to rise.

Aiming for its face Shepard released a flurry of kicks trying to keep it down. The cuts the treds of his boots left healed almost instantly and the force behind his kicks only seemed to slow it down slightly. Before too long he was back on the defensive. He was forced to dodge every blow the Krogan threw at him, blocking and toughing through a blow weren't an option with a Krogan. All of his martial arts training were designed with human vs. human combat in mind, many of his moves wouldn't work against a Krogan; it was just too strong of an opponent.

Bobbing and weaving through the Krogan's punches he finally found an opening. Parrying one of the punches he grabbed the combat knife that was strapped to the Krogan's upper arm and stabbed it into one of the Krogan's hearts. It dropped momentarily stunned and Shepard made a daring move placing his knife under the Krogan's "quad" he waited for the Krogan to regain his senses.

"If you want these things to stay where they are I suggest giving up Krogan." Shepard said.

Roaring in defiance the Krogan smashed his legs together breaking Shepard's retreating arm. Not before Shepard had thrust his knife into the Krogan's scrotum. The Krogan howled in pain pulling the knife away, a fountain of blood erupting from the wound. Throwing the bloody knife to the ground the Krogan screamed "Human, for that dishonor I will not leave a corpse for your Urdnot friends to retrieve." It screamed charging Shepard.

Unable to dodge the infuriated Krogan's punches Shepard was tossed around like a punching bag. When he hit the ground after a particularly hard uppercut he began coughing up blood. Rolling to his side he tried to get up, only to feel the Krogan's booted foot connect repeatedly with his ribs. Every time a kick connected he could both hear and feel his ribs snap, with an audible crack. With the final kick Shepard could feel an immense pain in his chest and his breathing became more ragged and it pained him to breath.

Forcing himself to his feet Shepard was able to stand for a brief moment before the Krogan swept him off his feet in a bear hug charging blindly forward. Struggling to regain some sort of freedom of movement was impossible, every move he made caused his broken arm to send a lance of pain up it, plus he could hardly breathe.

The Krogan hit a wall a few moments later. Shepard took the brunt of the force with his back, he heard something pop and a sudden unbearable pain shot up his back drawing a scream of pain from his lips.

The Krogan smirk in victory and threw Shepard to the ground sending him sprawling. Every inch of his body felt like it was on fire as he tried to regain his breath and footing. He was able to get up on one knee before the pain overwhelmed him again, sending him back to the ground. His own blood began to pool around him as he lay there dying. The Krogan laughed loudly as it sauntered over.

"Not feeling so big now are you human. How dare you come in here and challenge me for my clan, you a measly human. You are not fit to walk the ground of Tuchanka, let alone challenge a Krogan to a martial fight. Did you have some sort of death wish, because I'm about to fulfill it." The Krogan said leaning in close to Shepard's face with murder in his eyes.

Shepard looked around franticly for a way out of this, but he could find none. That is until he saw a flash of silver near his left hand. It was the Krogan's combat knife. Grasping it weakly he waited for his chance to strike.

Grabbing him by his throat the Krogan lifted Shepard off the ground and began to mock him again. With a surge of strength and adrenalin he plunged the knife into the Krogan's skull repeatedly. Each time the knife was retracted from the Krogan's skull a small spray of blood coated Shepard's face. Shepard continued his horrific assault, until all life left from the Krogan's eyes. Darkness began to flicker at the edges of Shepard's vision as he fell to the ground, the dead body of the Krogan falling on top of him. He could hear bullets firing in quick succession, but before he could see who fired or who was hit, his world turned black.

**Normandy **

**Present Time**

Shepard was quiet as he waited for Tali's response to his retelling of the fight. Her silver eyes were wide in shock and her lavender skin was a few shades paler. Her pale blue lips were agape in horror. "Oh, John" She whispered.

Before her stood a man who had gone toe to toe with a Krogan warlord in a fight and won, but it was such a stupid move on his part. She was so confused, he had senselessly put his life in danger and almost died, but on the other hand he had done it to save lives of hundreds if not thousands. But what about her? If Shepard had died… she didn't even want to think about what the future would be like without him, if she would have a future that is with the Reapers on the move and all.

It was all so confusing. Part of her knew Shepard would continue to take risks and do everything in his power to save the galaxy, and that was one of the reason's she loved him so much. Another part of her though wished Shepard would just forget about the galaxy and raise a family with her out on some uncharted planet. Far away from the Alliance, the Citadel, the Geth, and all the other problems that had been plaguing them.

"Tali? Tali are you ok?" Shepard asked concerned for her.

Snapping back to reality Tali turned to Shepard and sighed. "No John I'm not, this is the fourth time you have almost died on me. I know that I can't ask you to not endanger yourself again, saving the galaxy is too important, but please try and be a bit smarter with your choices. So that means no more fist fights with Krogans" Tali said calmly.

Shepard laughed for a moment before responding. "You don't have to tell me that twice, if I never have to see another Krogan again it will be too soon." Shepard said jokingly.

Tali punched him lightly on his uninjured shoulder. "I'm being serious, I keep worrying that one of these days you're going to leave me behind and never come back again." Tali said seriously all humor from her voice vanished.

Shepard's expression grew serious "Tali I will always come back, you have nothing to worry about. I won't leave you or our child." Shepard said placing his hand on Tali's slightly rounded stomach.

"You better not, now lay down you should be resting." Tali says

"I've been resting for three weeks; I have the energy for other things." Shepard said leaning in to kiss Tali.

Tali returned Shepard's kiss eagerly, all thoughts cleared from her mind. The only thing that mattered right now was John and herself. She could feel his arms encircle her drawing her closer. She felt warm and loved with a burning desire for the man in front of her. As the daylight waned and became night the two lovers began to notice that with Shepard's current state was highly inconvenient.

Until his spinal injury could be fixed with the equipment back on Freedom's Progress, Shepard was paralyzed from the waist down. He had never noticed how much he needed use of his legs until now.

Content with just getting to spend the night with Tali in his arms again was enough for Shepard, for now at least.

**Several Weeks later**

**Freedom's Progress**

Groaning in anguish Shepard got up and cracked his back. He had spent five hours talking with the Batarian representative, and still no progress could be made with their people. The word had gotten around that Shepard had allied himself with the Geth, and it was making things difficult. Though the Batarians may not have been a prime target when Saren had been using the Geth as soldier, they had still lost enough of their people to them to form a hatred for them. On top of that the Batarian government was still asking for him to make absurd apologies that he could not give.

It was one hell of a mess. Sometimes he wished he could just focus on the rest of the galaxy and forget about the Batarians, but he knew he would need as many species on his side as possible and that included the Batarians.

In the weeks that had followed the Tuchanka incident, he had handed his command of the Jurdon forces over to Wrex, finally ending the war and getting the full support of the Krogan populace. He was seen as a war hero by the Urdnots and their allies and a worthy conqueror by the Jurdons and their allies. Even the Vorcha seemed to respect him, as much as a Vorcha could that is.

With the labs on Freedom's Progress Chakwas had been able to fix his spinal injury, giving him full use of his legs again, and replaced any of his failed organs. His bones had healed correctly and he had spent the past few weeks in physical therapy, retraining his body to its previous N7 standard.

After that it had been back to business running the Black Knights. In the past few weeks their battle ready forces had nearly doubled with the first class of trainee's deemed ready for combat. They had been assigned the Knights assorted ships and were already out hunting down pirate, and doing quite well from the indication of the reports.

The Knights Navy had also increased in size. The Geth had moved their main fleet, an impressive 5,000 destroyers. Multiple fuel stations had been built near some of the uninhabited planets in the system just to keep the fleet going. Many of the Knight's forces had been very skeptical of the Geth, but Shepard hoped that would change with time.

"Commander," Kelly called over the com, "You have an incoming long range transmition from the colony Aegis on channel 645Z should I patch it threw?" She asked.

"Please do Kelly." Shepard said. Channel 645Z was the channel the Black Knights used for emergencies only; he was curious how a colony got a hold of that information.

A broken voice blared over the radio a moment later. "Is this Commander Shepard?"

"This is Shepard. How did you learn of this channel?" He asked accusingly.

"There is no time for that, _They_ are everywhere, _They_ killed everyone. You have to bring an army, cleanse this world before they can spread to any others." The man shouted at him, his voice shaking in fear.

"Who is attacking you slow down tell me what is going on." Shepard shouted back at him, all suspicion of the man was gone. No man could fake the fear he heard in the man's voice.

"They showed up in Quarian ships, said they were here to trade for supplies. When landed found out they weren't Quarians. They slaughtered everyone, all gone, only one left." The man began to babble incoherently after that. A crashing sound could be heard in the background. "No, no, get away from me, get away…AAAAHHHH." The sound of ripping flesh and cracking of bones could just barely be heard over the man's dying screams. The connection was lost a moment later.

"Kelly I want you to send a message to the second fleet. Tell them to head for the colony Aegis and be ready for a fight. Until I arrive, I leave Admiral Zakariyā in charge of the 2nd fleet." Shepard said already punching up second channel to the Normandy. "Joker, I need you to prepare the Normandy for immediate departure. We just received a distress call from the colony Aegis, so make sure the coordinates have been programmed into the navigation system."

"Sure thing Commander." Joker responded

"EDI," Shepard said tapping into yet another channel. "Send word to the crew that they are to be ready to depart in thirty minutes." Shepard said.

"Shepard, I feel I should remind you that Thane Krios and Mordin Solus are still on Kahje, trying to research a cure for Kepral's Syndrome." EDI told him in her usual electronic monotone.

"Damn it, I could use both of their skills on this mission. I there is nothing we can do about that now. EDI also send a message to the 1st Biotics platoon on the _Artemis_ they will be going planet side with us." Shepard said before running out of his study/office to the armory to suit up.

After double checking the air filtration systems on his death mask, Shepard grabbed his remaining gear, including the Arc Projector and the M-451 Firestorm. He didn't know what he would find on Aegis but he wanted to be prepared.

He ran into the courtyard where Tali was directing a small team of engineers who were loading a Corvette full of different gear Tali believed they might need. Everything from spare kinetic barrier generators to thermal clips, medi-gel and stims was being loaded on.

"Are you bringing enough stuff?" Shepard asked laughing a little.

"We are going to a planet that was entirely wiped out by an unknown enemy; I think you will appreciate me being prepared in the long run." Tali said not stopping in her work.

Shrugging his shoulders Shepard helped Tali load the last of the equipment before sitting in the pilot's chair. Programming the coordinates into the computer Shepard sat back as the Corvette's autopilot flew up to the Normandy. As the ship got close Shepard switched over to manual and slowly landed the ship in the cargo bay of the Normandy.

As the elevator opened on the operations deck of the Normandy, Shepard practically ran to the cockpit. "Joker is everyone on board?"

"Now that you're here commander everyone is accounted for." Joker responded

"Good now let's get moving we have a colony to investigate."

**AN: Not my best work by far but it will do, I guess**

**Sorry about the crappy bit after the flashback I needed some way to end the bit and there hasn't been too much Shepard/Tali yet so I decided to throw it in. Sadly the quality wasn't that great but it will get better trust me.**

**Also if Tali seemed a bit OOC in this chapter that's mainly because I am trying to add into account the mood swings due to her pregnancy, if I am doing anything wrong involving this please tell me.**

**Anyway review please I always lover hearing from you guys no matter if it a criticism or compliment I don't care**

**Till next week**

**Prince of Madness 54**


	6. Aegis

**Sorry It took me so long to get this chapter out, school recently got a lot more stressful, plus I had to re-write this chapter about 4 time because I wasn't satisfied with it (I'm still not but this was my best one) It felt way to much like a filler chapter**

**Anyway enough of my problems, time for answering stuff.**

**Random reader: Ya they're fucked**

**Solrac: I know you're not trying to, besides I like people who criticize my works they usually make me strive to improve them. No matter how nice it is to read all the positive reviews, a review with constructive criticism is always better. Anyway onto the Quarian thing, by humanoid, I basically meant that they look very close to humans but obviously they are different. So basically the structure of the body looks very human, minus the bowed legs and three fingered hand plus all the other stuff I mentioned last chapter, sorry if I seem like a conformist but that is what I thought of the moment I saw them when I played the game and the image kind of stuck.**

**I am quiet interested in what you think Quarians should look like. I haven't seen any one take the route of Quarians not looking very much like a human yet so I am curious about the other theories out there.**

**Anyway on with the show**

**In Orbit around Aegis**

**Aegis: Human colony**

**Population: At last census, 32,523,**

**Current count: Unknown**

The minute the Normandy exited FTL all hell broke loose.An explosion rocked the Normandy as a disruptor torpedo detonated near the port side engines. Joker sharply banked the Normandy to starboard, getting out of the line of fire.

"Admiral Zakariyā, this is Shepard give me a status report right now." Shepard called over the com looking out the cockpits window at the ensuing battle.

"Commander, when we arrived in the sector about fifteen minutes ago. Several ships were in orbit, all built similarly to Quarian designs. Foolishly we didn't engage immediately for fear that the ships might be actual Quarian vessels. We sent a coded message to them but the only response we received was a volley of shells." Zakariya reported from the bridge of the _Night Angel_.

"Have we taken any casualties yet?" Shepard asked worried about his men.

"No ships have been destroyed, but per my orders several ships have exited the combat zone to prevent their destruction." The Admiral stated.

"That was a very smart move Admiral," Shepard said thinking over the situation. "Send _The Artemis_ into orbit at Lagrange 3 on the opposite end of the planet for now so that we can safely deploy the 1st biotics. The Artemis and The Normandy can rejoin combat after the teams get planet side. Since you are more knowledgeable about space combat than I am, I will leave our fleet in your hands." Shepard ordered.

"Understood sir." Zakariyā said with a salute before the picture faded.

"All ground forces meet at the Corvette in the cargo bay we will be departing soon." Shepard called out over the intercom.

After Shepard called the elevator, he was surprised to see Tali come out of the armory with Jacob her shotgun slung over her shoulder. Shepard opened his mouth to speak but Tali beat him to the punch.

"John don't even try and talk me out of going. I'm going planet side end of story." She said seriously

"Tali it isn't safe, we don't know what is on this planet." Shepard said. He would have allowed her to go anytime a few months ago, and be glad she was there to watch his back, but things had changed.

"Safe! John how was Ilos safe, how was Vermire safe, how was going to the Collector base safe. I have gone to the gates of Hell and back more times than anyone should. This situation isn't close to as dangerous as any of those, and this time we have Kaidan and his group to help us out. I'll be fine." Tali said confidently.

"Tali it's not you I'm worried about…" Shepard noticed most of the crew on the deck, and Jacob, were staring at them. When they saw him turn his head they all tried to pretend they were back at work. He knew though that all were still listening.

Dragging Tali into the now abandoned armory, much to her protest, Shepard continued what he had been saying a moment ago. "I wouldn't be worried about you Tali under normal circumstances, you're tough and could easily survive this, but you're pregnant. It will affect you mobility and stamina, making this mission more of a risk to both your health and the health of our child.

You told me after I woke up after the fight on Tuchanka that you wanted me to make smarter choices so that I would come back alive. Well now I'm asking you to make the smarter choice so that I have someone to come back to." Shepard was almost ready to start begging the stubborn Quarian to see his side of things when something unexpected happened.

"Your right John," Tali agreed with him, giving up the argument surprisingly easily. "But so help me, if you don't come back from this one; I will drag you back from the gates of Hell myself." Tali said

Shepard smiled he was glad to see some fire back in her eyes. She quickly removed her visor and the couple shared a quick kiss before she replaced the mask and shot a syringe of antibiotics into her arm.

She followed Shepard back to the elevator; they hugged one last time before he got in the elevator and descended to the cargo bay.

When she saw the doors shut she walked over to the secondary gunnery controls and began to calibrate the Thanix cannon, they were going to need it.

**Aegis: Over Salamis**

The four Corvettes* landed planet side near Aegis's capital city of Salamis. Even before they disembarked from the ship, Shepard could see the carnage. Bodies lay strewn in every direction, many of the bodies showed signs of blast damage while others looked like they were mauled by an animal.

Walking down the rear ramp, his Revenant at the ready, he was disturbed by how quiet it was. When he was on Freedom's Progress, after waking from his coma, there had been a similar level of calm, but that colony had been harvested for weeks. This colony on the other hand was just recently invaded, ships were still in orbit, so where was the enemy?

Shepard signaled for his teams to move to a nearby house where they could find some cover and plan their next moves. As the platoon made its way across the street Shepard saw Kolyat stop and gaze down the street. Raising his Mantis sniper rifle he fired off a shot before shouting.

"They know we are here hurry get to the building." He pulled back the bolt and tried to line up another shot but it was too late.

The sound of a gunshot in the distance signaled before a soldier doubled over, a large entry wound in his gut. One of the squad field doctors ran over to the man to try and help. The human began to apply medi-gel to the injured Turian's wound, seconds later as small explosive detonated in the Turian's stomach launching shrapnel in the doctor, killing him instantly.

"Everybody move now!" Shepard shouted firing the Revenant up the street trying to make the unknown enemy duck for cover.

Another bullet was launched down the street, this time it reflected off the kinetic barrier put up by the twenty-eight remain biotics. Shepard focused only on his intended goal seeing only the door to the house, the safe haven for himself and his men. Even as the odd shrapnel shells detonated around the barrier, he didn't pay them any mind. Four feet away from the door, Shepard got his first look at his enemy, and he didn't know what to make of it.

The door to the house opened revealing a reptilian creature. The shape of its head was similar to that of a snake, looking very much like a spade. The scales covering it were dull beige mixed with varying shades of white. Several horns adorned the creatures head and ran down its neck disappearing at the neckline. (**AN: Because I know someone will make the connection, no I am not stealing Darth Maul from Star Wars, think more of the horned lizard)** Its eyes were a piercing yellow; its pupils were narrow slits, the eyes of a nocturnal predator. The build of its body was similar to that of a Drell, slight and lithe, but it had four fingers instead of the normal five.

The reptilian wore a Quarian environmental suit but it lacked the helmet, breaking the airtight seal. It clutched in its hand as large bold action rifle with a laser targeting system mounted in place of traditional iron sights and a tube the size of a pipe cleaner ran along the top of the barrel.

The most horrifying feature of this alien was revealed when it opened its mouth. Row after row of razor sharp fangs lined the alien's mouth. As it spoke poison literally dripped from its fangs. "We claim this planet in the name of the Mak'Tal; you have no more claims to this planet human." The Mak'Tal called, its voice sounded like the hissing of a snake.

It fired its rifle the next moment, the shrapnel shell breaking a hole in the biotic barrier. Raising his Revenant he opened up, the shell exploded the moment Shepard's first bullet broke through the alien's kinetic barrier. The shrapnel tore through his kinetic barrier but the shards of metal were slowed enough for his armor to absorb the hit. The force was still able to double him over.

As he tried to regain his breathe he felt a gun barrel placed across his back followed by the crack of the shot. Pulling back the bolt Kolyat removed the gun from Shepard's back and helped him into the door over the Mak'Tal's corpse, a hole leaked blue blood from its skull.

The room they entered was no better than the streets. A hastily erected barricade was smashed to pieces by explosives and bodies lay strewn along the ground. Blood splashed up from the floor as the platoon hastily entered the building, staining the soles of their boots red. As more people entered the building Shepard began to give out orders.

"Kaidan, get the platoon to start rebuilding the barriers, we don't know for how long we'll have to be here, so it is best to be prepared. Garrus, Legion, and Kolyat follow me to the upper floors. I want to see what we are up against. Miranda go through that… thing's stuff see if you can find anything to tell us why they are here." Shepard ordered before turning to Samara. "I need you, Jack and Zaeed to search the buildings nearby for supplies and survivors. If either are found bring them back here." He told her but he knew the chances of finder either were slim. She nodded and slipped another thermal clip into her M-12 Locust

"Jacob, send word to the Normandy to send more supplies planet side, we're going to need them. Also tell EDI to send a priority 1 transmition to our carrier, the Katsuragi, I want them in the system in less than two hours and running sorties in three. Tell them they are only authorized to use smart bombs."

"Understood Commander." Jacob said before finding a quiet corner to send his transmition from.

Leaving his team to their tasks, Shepard lead Garrus and Kolyat to the roof, to try and see what they were up against. Taking a quick peek through his scope Shepard could see several of the aliens that referred to themselves as Mak'Tal. Each of the aliens had a rifle to bear but with a visor over one of the eyes. Several times the aliens spotted one of them, every time the three men dove for cover, but the expected shrapnel shell was never fired.

By the time Shepard, Garrus, and Kolyat returned to the lower levels of the building two things were certain.

One, the platoon was completely surrounded by the enemy. None of the three snipers who went to the roof could find a way out of their current predicament with the equipment they had with them, at least not without sustaining heavy casualties.

Two, the Mak'Tal were preparing to smoke them out soon. Shepard had seen what looked like an artillery battery being set up in a field near the town. He had ordered the men to retreat into the basement incase the battery decided to open up on them before help could arrive.

Jacob had told him that the Katsuragi was still two hours out; it would take at least another ten minutes after arriving in the system before a bomber could get into the atmosphere and destroy the battery; more than enough time for the artillery piece to bomb them into the ground.

Shortly after the transmition had been sent to the Normandy, the aliens began jamming all outbound communications to the planet. They had been intercepting Knight's transmitions and they seemed to be positive. The vast majority of the initial invasion fleet had been pushed back but enemy reinforcements had been arriving steadily.

Miranda had also shed some light on the origin of the Mak'Tal attack on Aegis.

"The Mak'Tal have been plotting for centuries on invading both Citadel space and the Terminus systems. They infiltrated worlds and even the Citadel itself by masquerading as Quarians on pilgrimage and learning what they could about our technology, military strength and deployment, and how to manipulate different species against another. Recently a prophet of some sorts has risen to power in the Mak'Tal hierarchy and has declared this first…_cleansing_ as they referred to it, to be the first strike in a war with the rest of the known galaxy." Miranda had told him earlier.

Shepard had cursed his horrible luck. The Reaper's were on their way to wipe out all life in the galaxy and a new war bent species emerges to cause more problems.

'If there is a god," Shepard thought, 'then he better be enjoying the sick little joke he is pulling, because I sure as hell am not.' Clearing his head of these distracting thoughts he focused on more important things, survival was one of them.

Samara's search team had brought up poor results. No survivors were found in any of the nearby buildings. The team found very little in the way of supplies, other than some basic electrical equipment, which was being used to try and boost the radio signals. There was a slight benefit to sending the search team out though. They encountered a few scouting parties along the way, and were able to bring back some more Mak'Tal technology and spare weapons gathered from the remains of fallen militia men.

Further examination of the gear they found revealed some surprising results. It seemed, from what the platoon could tell, that the Mak'Tal were more advanced in electronics, but the weapons technology was still quite primitive, though no one denied the effectiveness of the weapon. Each rifle operated with a clip fed bolt action system that loaded a shrapnel shell into the breach and was launched by mass effect fields, giving the shell the speed of any normal round. Relatively low tech compared to the direct energy weapons that were standard issue among modern militaries in Citadel space.

The scope of the weapon was another story entirely though. Overall the scope was only the size of a pipe cleaner, and it wirelessly linked to a specially crafted visor, found on many of the aliens. The scope would show a real time, high definition image of the target, with a zoom of up to 2000x power. The scope also included a targeting computer to help aim the shot with only a margin of error of.002 of an inch.

Some of the soldiers, whose weapons were damaged by the fighting earlier, were given the Mak'Tal rifles and were off to the side learning how to use the system to its full potential.

This still left the artillery batteries and figuring out what to do about them. Using his Omni-tool Shepard pulled up a 3-D model of the city and marked the relative location of the battery. From the current location of the platoon, Shepard could only see three ways to make it to the field, without having to pass through large spans of open ground. The routes were roads that lead out of the city, each about 50 feet apart from another. This would make it difficult to get close to the battery without sustaining heavy losses. The roads themselves posed another problem. Lining the road on both sides were tall buildings, which would give the enemy cover and make their explosive weapons more powerful.

This only left them a few options. Wait for help to arrive and get shelled into the ground, Make a break for it, or destroy the gun and fall back. Obviously if they waited they would most likely die. If they made a break for it they would be on open plains, on an unfamiliar world with the Mak'Tal most likely able to track their every move. If they made an attack on the gun, most likely people would die, maybe in large numbers. Sadly it was their only feasible option of survival.

Together with Kaidan and Samara, Shepard organized their plan of attack. Shepard would lead the platoon in an attack on the spaceport to as a distraction for the real team. A team of three, lead by Samara would attack the battery, while the main force was distracted by Shepard's group. The team consisted of, Jack, Kolyat, and of course Samara. The team was balanced for all times of combat whether CQB, long range combat, or a strait out firefight, in addition to the fact that all of them were powerful biotics, they made a fairly decent team.

This was only on paper though; the human factor still played a big part of it. Jack in particular had him worried, she might obey his orders…most of the time, but he didn't know how she would behave with Samara or Kolyat. He had considered sending Jacob with them, but he was nowhere near as powerful a biotic, and he had experience leading soldiers. Shepard would need his help managing the platoon, during the fight at the space port.

The platoon was ready for the battle before the plan was done begin made. Shepard gave Samara his M-920 Cain before the platoon began to move out, quickly teaching her how to use it and reload it if necessary.

"After you take out the kinetic bubble that surrounds the battery use this to destroy it. The range can be up to 1000 meters, but I don't recommend using it at ranges of any more than 300 meters. The round is fairly slow moving and at 1000 meters that gives the enemy time to move out of the blast radius." He told her.

"Understood Shepard, I will perform my duty honorably." Samara responded collapsing the giant weapon and attaching it to her back.

He also handed Kolyat the Cerberus Arc Projector and Jack the Firestorm in case they needed them. Shepard himself grabbed a new toy the R&D department of ERCS* wanted him to try out.

The M-540 Ballista was a new grenade launcher produced by ERCS and they had asked Shepard to field test it for them. It was a mutually beneficial agreement for both parties. Shepard got some new toys and financial support for the Knights and ERCS got their weapons tested and some positive publicity, something the new CEO wanted.

The Ballista wasn't very different from its earlier model the M-100, except for a few key differences. The round fired by the weapon was larger and contained a new experimental type of explosive. The drum magazine that held the ammo was replaced by a helical magazine and was able to hold more ammo. The barrel was also slightly longer allowing for better accuracy at longer ranges. Overall it was a fairly decent weapon.

After the last magazine was locked into place and the Kinetic barriers were charged to the maximum output. Shepard led his team out into the night.

_*****__Corvette: Small 10 man ship capable of entering the atmosphere unassisted_

_ERCS: Elanus Risk Control Services_

**AN: I know another stopping point right before a big action sequence. Some of you must want to kill me right about now, but I have a good reason for stopping where I did. **

**I want to spend about a chapter on each of the missions so you people have two options. You can have me publish them individually which means maybe, keyword maybe, a chapter a week, or all together as one giant ass chapter (Roughly 9000 words) which will take multiple weeks**

**For the individual the order would be, Fleet fight, Battle at the spaceport, taking out the artillery.**

**VOTE NOW! Voting will be done in reviews not a pole.**

**Anyway as some parting words**

**Please review I appreciate hearing from you people.**

**Abschied**

**Prince of Madness 54**


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